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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
REQUESTING A PUBLIC HEARING TO DISCUSS PREVENTATIVE MEASURES FOR POTENTIAL VIOLATIONS OF RESOLUTION 07-R-240, THE ICE DETAINER ORDINANCE, AND RESOLUTION NO. 17-0724’S RECOMMITMENT TO COOK COUNTY’S IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
WHEREAS, in recent years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has paid more than $100 million to data brokers to obtain individuals’ personal information. They have used data broker tools to collect sensitive information including Global Positioning System (GPS) location data, facial recognition data, vehicle registrations, credit reports, utility bills, and social media, among hundreds of other sources; and
WHEREAS, ICE has published documents that explicitly confirm that they use data brokers to get around sanctuary policies and laws; and
WHEREAS, in a July 2021 contracting document, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) stated that it is expanding its contract with data brokers to obtain information that is protected by sanctuary policies across the country; and
WHEREAS, the data that is used by ICE is bought and sold by private companies such as Appriss, recently acquired by Equifax, and can be accessed by ICE as an “add-on feature” in its contract with LexisNexis; and
WHEREAS, in FY2020, ICE issued 122,223 detainers across the country. The previous year, Cook County law enforcement agencies had to reject more than 1,000 detainer requests because of local sanctuary policies. Even when localities refuse to execute detainers, LexisNexis’s program, Justice Intelligence, allows ICE to obtain the necessary data to bypass local policies; and
WHEREAS, it is estimated that ICE has purchased extensive personal information on over 283 million “consumer identities” from more than 10,000 government and commercial sources; and
WHEREAS, there are many examples of how data brokers are directly helping ICE violate the spirit and of sanctuary laws; and
WHEREAS, Cook County and Chicago are among the government entities targeted by ICE raids in Operation Palladium (2020) and Operation “Safe City” (2017) which were carried out as political retaliation in sanctuary cities; and
WHEREAS, to fully protect immigrant communities in Cook County, we must ensure that ICE respects our county’s sanctuary resolutions and ordinances; and
WHEREAS, Cook County should help protect the privacy rights and civil liberties of all residents and verify that no violations are aided by private interest and corporate data brokers.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Cook County Legislative and Intergovernmental Relations Committee will hold a hearing to discuss the potential risks of data brokers sharing and/or selling personal information with ICE, through expert testimony, to determine whether and to what extent county government data regarding residents is available to private data brokers. The Committee will also discuss the best practices for protecting the rights of all Cook County residents.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, the Cook County Bureau of Technology, Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, Cook County Public Defender’s Office, Cook County Sheriff’s Department, Cook County Adult Probation, and other Cook County stakeholders are asked to appear before the Legislative and Intergovernmental Relations Committee hearing to discuss the matter.
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