Crime & Law
Cook County’s Top Prosecutor Bars Vendor From Sharing Data With ICE
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent takes part in an early morning operation in Park Ridge, Ill., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo / Erin Hooley)
Cook County’s top prosecutor said her office is taking steps to bar a vendor company from sharing data with federal immigration authorities, after agents repeatedly targeted individuals around local courthouses.
State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke on Monday announced her office revised its contract with Appriss Inc. — a vendor company that handles statutorily mandated victim notifications — to “explicitly prohibit” the company from disclosing any personal data with federal law enforcement officials or third-party databases that may be used to support immigration enforcement.
“Everyone participating in the justice system — regardless of immigration status — should be able to trust that their personal information will be protected,” O’Neill Burke said in a statement. “We will continue to stand up for our immigrant communities and try to reduce the harm that’s been caused by ICE’s reckless actions.”
According to O’Neill Burke’s office, Appriss provides legally required notifications to crime victims when an offender has been released from custody.
Under the revised contract, which has already taken effect, Appriss must take steps to prevent any party it contracts with from being able to access or purchase personal information of individuals held in the Cook County Jail, O’Neill Burke’s office said.
The State’s Attorney’s office previously required Appriss to turn off the data feed supplying this information to third parties back in August.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were repeatedly spotted at Cook County courthouses this year, where they made arrests on courthouse property or waited for individuals to leave court proceedings before taking them into custody.
Those actions continued even after then-Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans signed an order last fall banning federal immigration agents from arresting people in or around local courthouses without a warrant.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law late last year that also sought to protect immigrants from federal enforcement near courthouses, hospitals, university campuses and day cares.
After ICE agents were spotted at four separate Cook County courthouses on one day in May, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told WTTW News in a statement that ICE targeting arrests at local courthouses is “common sense.”
“After years of advocacy, dangerous language that allowed the sharing of personal information will finally be removed from the Appriss contract,” Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya said in a statement. “This issue has highlighted how agencies are circumventing local laws to access sensitive information. As a Commissioner, I call upon other county agencies to join our collective push to close loopholes and uphold our value of being a welcoming county for all.”
