Chicago City Wire

Last week, Illinois state House of Representatives' Immigration and Human Rights Committee approved legislation that gives Cook County public defenders the authority to represent illegals facing deportation. The Democrat-controlled General Assembly is expected to send the measure to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is expected to sign it.

The vote comes on the heels of the approval of a resolution by the Cook County Board of Commissioners to likewise allow public defenders to represent illegals – both within and beyond the county’s jurisdiction.

For an earlier story on the county resolution, one former assistant state’s attorney (ASA) called the move “outrageous.”

“Not the role of the public defender,” the former ASA, who asked to remain anonymous, said in an email. “They represent indigent people in criminal cases on which they are appointed by a judge. First, there is no case on which they could be appointed. So there's no Judge to appoint them.”

The move comes a month after the Trump Administration sued both the state of Illinois and city of Chicago over its sanctuary laws, including the state’s TRUST Act, and Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance. Both prohibit law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attempting to deport illegals. Under Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, ICE has zeroed in on illegals with criminal records as one of its top targets for deportation.

County Commissioner Sean Morrison (17th) was the only “no” vote on the resolution.

“I strongly object to the idea of using Cook County government resources beyond our jurisdiction,” Morrison said in a February 6 post on X. “This is fundamentally unfair to the hardworking taxpayers of Cook County, who should not be burdened with funding legal representation outside our county lines.”

He added that “beyond the financial irresponsibility, this measure runs counter to federal law regarding the removal of criminal illegal migrants. The primary duty of our government should be to protect our own citizens — ensuring public safety and preserving limited financial resources. This should never be a controversial position.”

At a recent House Committee hearing on the measure, HB 2436, State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dietrich, said the client list of illegals would grow rapidly.

“Niemerg compared it to other public programs offered to illegal immigrants in Illinois, such as state-funded health care,” the Cook County Record reported. “He noted a recent state audit showed the state had been stuck with a bill for $1.6 billion to provide health services to illegal immigrants, overrunning cost estimates by as much as 286%, depending on the exact program, as the programs attracted tens of thousands more participants than the state had estimated.”

“’Everybody's been coming to Chicago to get their health insurance," Niemberg said while questioning a representative of the Public Defender's office about the legislation. "Now everybody's going to be coming to Chicago to get represented.’”