MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A federal appeals court has given McHenry and Kankakee Counties more time before ending their agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house prisoners at their jails.
The counties challenged the state’s Way Forward Act, which bans counties from entering into contracts with ICE to hold immigration detainees.
A judge dismissed the suit and the agreements were expected to end the first of the year, but the counties appealed the decision and now a new end date of Jan. 13 is being considered.
McHenry County Board Chairman Mike Buehler, R-Crystal Lake, said, in a statement, “The Illinois Way Forward Act is an unconstitutional and poorly thought out law that was hastily thrown together by the General Assembly to make a political statement.”
State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said they’re “eager to continue this fight, pushing back against hasty and politically punitive legislation micromanaging the affairs of counties at the behest of Springfield activists.”
The suit alleges the Act violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution – prohibiting states from interfering with the federal government’s exercise of its constitutional powers.
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