State officials and the Cook County Public Defender say ICE detained a man at the Bridgeview Courthouse on Wednesday without presenting a warrant, after courthouse security stopped him and deputies prevented people from recording. The case adds pressure to a w
Bridgeview Courthouse security stopped a man before ICE agents entered the building. Minutes later, deputies watched as the agents handcuffed him, took him to a car outside, and told a responding Court lieutenant that they had a valid arrest warrant—without presenting one.
State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid said his office is investigating whether state laws were broken after the detention on Wednesday. The allegation lands in the middle of a legal framework meant to keep federal civil arrests away from courthouses. and the fight over enforcement is already raising familiar questions about who can—or will—hold federal agents responsible.
Last year. then-Cook County Circuit Chief Judge Timothy Evans signed an order barring the civil arrest in and around county courthouses. though judicial warrants can still be carried out. The effort is supported by a state law signed in December that bans federal agents from conducting civil arrests at state courthouses. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle also signed an executive order prohibiting federal agents from staging on county property as Chicago and others did the same.
The Cook County sheriff’s office said Wednesday that a man ran into the courthouse and through security and was stopped by court deputies before ICE agents entered the courthouse and handcuffed the man. It also said two people attempted to film what was happening near the security checkpoint but were stopped by deputies.
After the detention, the sheriff’s office said the ICE agents took the man to a car outside and told a responding Court lieutenant that they had a valid arrest warrant, but did not present one. The sheriff’s office did not say what the warrant involved.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment and information about the alleged warrant.
The Cook County Public Defender’s office said earlier in the day agents detained a woman and a small child as they tried to enter the courthouse. calling the arrests “clear violations of state law.” The office said it has not been able to find federal criminal charges for the man arrested later and said he had been at court for a hearing to be offered a deferred prosecution.
In a statement, the public defender’s office pointed to video from the arrest, saying, “it does not appear the sheriff’s office asked to see the warrant.” The office’s criticism went further, saying the conduct shown by the federal agents was illegal and deeply concerning.
“The conduct displayed by the federal agents was illegal and deeply concerning,” the office said in a statement. “As the video clearly shows. ICE was permitted to arrest someone inside of the lobby of the courthouse despite offering no evidence of compliance with state law and court order. … Arrests like this. which routinely have been of people accused of low-level offenses that in many cases are later dismissed. prevent access to justice and damage public confidence in our legal system.”.
Rashid said his office would “expend all resources at our discretion to get to the bottom of what happened today.” The sheriff’s Office of Professional Review is currently reviewing the actions of the deputies who stopped the members of the public from filming.
This episode comes after a run of similar criticism about ICE arrests near courthouses. Earlier this year, a rash of ICE arrests at the Domestic Violence Courthouse at 555 W. Harrison St. downtown Chicago drew decrials from the Cook County Public Defender’s office, state legislators, and community activists.
Accountability has been hard to secure in Illinois. with officials pointing fingers at each other—an obstacle that community leaders say they can’t afford to ignore. Hatem Abudayyeh. executive director of the Arab American Action Network. which is part of a rapid responder network in the southwest suburbs that was at the scene Wednesday. said he still believes the push for a special prosecutor to go after federal agents—rather than Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke. who has been criticized for her lack of action—was still the best bet at accountability. That effort was struck down by a judge in April.
“I don’t have any confidence that anyone else is gonna get involved here, the feds aren’t gonna investigate themselves,” Abudayyeh said. “It can only be stopped by people in the community resisting the way we are, so we have to keep it up.”
The detainment also followed pressure on local policing and federal-arrest oversight. Hours earlier, Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th) demanded accountability from Chicago police in a Chicago Tribune op-ed about reporting on Chicago Police Department activity involving ICE. including claims that CPD closed an investigation into ICE agents just days after they hit a woman’s vehicle before tasing and detaining a man in Albany Park earlier this month.
Vasquez said CPD didn’t submit an incident report for the crash—a requirement when an outside law enforcement agency is involved under the mayor’s “ICE on Notice” executive order—raising “concerns that [CPD] has not fully operationalized” it.
He also faulted the argument made by the Cook County state attorney’s office that prosecutors cannot act unless a police agency conducts an investigation and refers a case for review. Vasquez said that makes CPD’s handling “even more troubling. ” writing that if a potential accountability incident involving federal agents is quickly narrowed into a traffic report. labeled “non-criminal. ” and suspended within days. “then prosecutors may never receive the kind of case file needed to determine whether charges are warranted.”.
ICE Bridgeview Courthouse Abdelnasser Rashid Timothy Evans Toni Preckwinkle Cook County Sheriff’s Office Cook County Public Defender immigration enforcement state law warrant