A court general order and new state law have not stopped ICE from increasingly staking out Chicago area courthouses for arrests since February. Sightings of federal agents near court continue this week as “processing” of detainees at Broadview has accelerated.
2026 News Archive
After he was tortured in El Salvador and one of his family members was killed, M.G. sought refuge in the United States. The Convention Against Torture was supposed to make sure he didn’t go back. But he was deported — and no one has heard from him since.
Cook County Public Defender, Sharone R. Mitchell says the Pretrial Fairness Acts has impacted the clients our office represents.
Federal agents were reportedly spotted at multiple Cook County courthouses in a move community activists are calling a “significant ramp up” of immigration enforcement in and around Chicago. ICE continues to conduct operations that violate due process, and by operating at courthouses in Cook County they are acting in violation of state law.
Illinois abolished cash bail and drove down the population at the Cook County jail. Under the county’s top prosecutor, it’s rising again.
The Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender was proud to be part of the Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance (MIDA), a collaborative deportation defense program in partnership with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), The Immigration Project, The Resurrection Project, Erie Neighborhood House, The MICA Project, and Children's Legal Center. The Vera Institute conducted an independent evaluation of how legal representation can have an immense impact on outcomes in immigration proceedings.
The Cook County public defender’s office had already laid the groundwork to represent individuals in immigration cases, but an increase in detention under the Trump administration last year forced them to adjust.
Assistant Public Defender Sam Goldberg spoke in support of a proposed change to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 307 that would allow interlocutory appeals of a trial court’s decision to transfer a child’s case to an adult criminal court.
The Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender's Office, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Illinois Senator Graciela Guzmán, The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, and other partners held a press conference to condemn the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violating state law and arresting individuals at a courthouse in Chicago. Various news agencies and outlets covered the Press Conference.
As a young frontline public defender in the courtroom, Sharone R. Mitchell, Jr., often imagined how the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender could better serve its constituents. Now, as the agency’s head, he’s realizing that vision.