By Lisa Donovan
Chicago Sun-Times
COOK COUNTY, Ill. — Cook County’s controversial illegal immigration policy, which critics say paved the way for a suspect in a deadly drunken-driving crash to bond out of jail and disappear, may very well violate federal law, the nation’s immigration director said in a letter to County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
“This ordinance undermines public safety in Cook County,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton wrote in a Jan. 4 letter to Preckwinkle. “In addition to undermining local public safety, the [ordinance] may also violate federal law.”
The letter was dated the same day the Chicago Sun-Times and other media outlets reported the case of Saul Chavez, 36, who was charged in a deadly hit-and-run crash on the city’s Northwest Side back in June 2011. His family posted 10 percent, or $25,000, of the $250,000 bond, and he was released in late November. He hasn’t been seen since.
In the days after Chavez’s arrest, immigration officials issued a “detainer” for him, asking that the county jail notify the agency when the suspect posted bond and to detain him up to 48 hours so agents could pick him up for possible deportation proceedings.
But in September, a majority of county commissioners passed an ordinance instructing the jail to ignore the immigration detainers.
Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Preckwinkle championed the measure, saying the detainers sometimes targeted U.S. citizens and were an added expense the jail can’t afford.
Chavez is charged in the death of William “Denny” McCann, 66, killed by an alleged drunken driver as McCann crossed a Logan Square Street last summer.
At a news conference Thursday, Preckwinkle said her heart goes out to the McCann family, but the issue with Chavez is that his bond was too low - especially considering he had a felony drunken-driving conviction on his record.
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