Crime & Law
Despite Illinois Sanctuary Laws, More Than a Dozen County Sheriffs Have Contracts to Hold People in ICE Custody
As federal immigration agents continue daily raids across Chicago and its suburbs, at least 17 sheriff’s offices across Illinois were found to have contracts on the books to detain people on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Those agreements are in apparent violation of the Illinois TRUST Act, signed in 2017 by then Gov. Bruce Rauner, and its amendment, the Illinois Way Forward Act, signed in 2021 by Gov. JB Pritzker.
The acts explicitly prohibit law enforcement agencies from entering into or renewing intergovernmental service agreements to house or detain individuals for federal civil immigration violations. Agencies with an existing contract were legally required to terminate it by Jan. 1, 2022.
“These contracts appear to contravene the Illinois TRUST Act and Way Forward Act,” said Jonathan Manes, senior counsel for the MacArthur Justice Center, who has been monitoring compliance of the act. “These appear to contemplate that ICE could house people in county jails.”
After counties were contacted by WTTW News, at least four of the 17 have said they will terminate their agreements with ICE.
To ascertain if county jails are complying with the state’s TRUST Act, WTTW News sent Freedom of Information Act requests to each of the 90 county jails in Illinois to obtain copies of intergovernmental agreements with the U.S. Marshals Service.
Counties typically enter into contracts with the Marshals Service to detain or transport people on behalf of the federal government for a per diem rate. Other agencies, like ICE, can be checked off on these contracts as an additional agency authorized to detain people at a local jail. That inclusion is known as an “ICE rider.”
An ICE box is checked on Franklin County's contract with the US Marshals Service.
The Marshals Service does not have bedspace of their own, so they contract with private prisons and local jails for detention needs. In Illinois, these contracts range from $53.60 to $90 a day per each detainee, according to a review of the records.
In practice, contracted local jails would hold federal detainees pre-trial for the Marshals Service. If contracted by ICE, those jails would hold immigrant detainees awaiting hearings or deportation.
It is unclear if or how often the ICE rider on these 17 contracts have been utilized by Illinois sheriffs. Either way, Manes finds that checked-off box concerning.
“These counties have put themselves in a potentially very awkward position if ICE comes knocking to hold a detainee,” Manes said.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office, which oversees compliance and enforcement of the state’s sanctuary laws, did not respond to requests for comment on contracts.
WTTW News inquired with every county with an ICE rider if they were aware of the agreement and if they planned on continuing their existing contract in light of the state’s TRUST Act. Some said they would terminate the ICE inclusion on their contracts; others said they were following state law.
The Franklin, Henry, Mercer and Jackson county sheriffs said they would terminate the ICE rider on their contracts after being contacted by WTTW News.
The sheriff of Franklin County said the rider was inadvertently added; The Mercer County sheriff said they were not aware the rider was still present; The Henry County sheriff said the rider was signed under his predecessor so he can “only assume this was an oversight.”
The Jackson County sheriff sent an updated contract without an ICE rider that was signed four days after WTTW News sent an inquiry on the subject.
The Jackson County Sheriff sent a copy of an updated contract without an ICE rider that was signed four days after WTTW News sent an inquiry.
The Knox County Sheriff said they are reviewing their contract.
While some local sheriffs have moved to change their contracts, others dispute the agreements are in violation of state law.
The Ford, Mason, Ogle, Sangamon and Winnebago County sheriffs said they’re following Illinois’ sanctuary laws and that they are not detaining individuals on behalf of ICE. The Marion County sheriff also said they are within the bounds of the law — even if they wish they didn’t have to.
“Since the Illinois Way Forward Act was enacted, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office has and will abide by the Illinois Way Forward Act,” their sheriff’s office said in a statement. “However, Sheriff Cripps advises that he hopes Illinois will change its direction in the future.”
The Adams, Perry, Pulaski, Macon and St. Clair sheriff’s offices did not provide a comment after multiple requests.
Kankakee County, which sued and lost in an effort to uphold their lucrative ICE detention contract in 2021, also had an ICE rider. They also did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Some counties signed contracts with an ICE rider after the passage of the Illinois TRUST Act. Jackson County signed their contract in February of this year, but they said this was an updated agreement and that the check box for ICE was “overlooked.”
“You hope it’s just an oversight, they didn’t realize that certain boxes were ticked and they didn’t intend to violate the law,” Manes said. “I suppose the hope would be that, if it’s brought to their attention, they would correct the error.”
Other counties have had these contracts for nearly two decades; Sangamon County’s was signed in 2003, so ICE’s predecessor, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is the authorized agency.
Not all counties with Marshals Service intergovernmental agreements included ICE riders, which made up another 17 counties. Another four counties have Marshals Service agreements, but it was unclear if they had the ICE rider because they were not able to locate the original contracts.
But even without the ICE rider, people can be held on behalf of the Marshals Service with immigration-related charges.
Jacob Kang-Brown of the Prison Policy Initiative found that ICE and other federal agencies are more frequently referring people for federal prosecution on immigration-related crimes, as opposed to what are normally civil immigration matters.
Booking on immigration offenses for people entering Marshals Service custody has doubled nationally since the start of the year, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
In January 2025, 3,127 people were booked on immigration charges. In May 2025, 6,501 people were booked.
In Illinois, 76 people have been booked into Marshals Service custody over immigration crimes since the beginning of this year until September, according to the Department of Justice’s Prosecuting Immigration Crimes Report.
“The Trump administration’s prosecution priorities have created a situation in which every county with a U.S. Marshals contract is effectively signed up for his mass detention and deportation agenda regardless of whether they have sanctuary policies on their books,” Kang-Brown said.
Contact Blair Paddock: @blairpaddock.bsky.social | [email protected]
