Davis Enacts New Protections to Protect Due Process Rights from Immigration Raids

CHICAGO, Ill. – Locations where everyone should feel safe will be better protected from warrantless immigration raids under a new law backed by state Rep. Lisa Davis, D-Chicago, expanding due process protections for all people at hospitals, daycares,
courthouses and college campuses.

“We should all feel safe going to hospitals when we’re ill, dropping our children off at daycare, pursuing higher education— anywhere we go to better ourselves,” said Davis. “How are people working towards their immigration status ever going to get their papers if they are consistently detained at the courthouse? Immigrants are people— upstanding pillars of our community— and they should not be treated as less than anyone else.”

Davis-backed House Bill 1312 allows for a private right of action against agents who, in the process of conducting immigration enforcement, knowingly violate a person’s rights.

Davis’s legislation also establishes protections for those without citizenship who are at or near hospitals, courthouses and daycares. The legislation prevents certain federal immigration enforcement actions at the following locations:

• Courthouses: prohibits civil immigration arrests at or near courthouses and provides civil penalties for violations and attorney fee recovery.
• Hospitals: requires hospitals to create formal policies for handling law-enforcement interactions, bars cooperation with immigration enforcement unless there is a judicial warrant and protects patient immigration-related information.
• Daycares: prohibits disclosing immigration information about children or families and requires policies and training to protect children if a parent faces immigration action.

Additionally, the legislation establishes protections for Illinois college students in the midst of growing immigration raids in the state. It specifically bars higher education institutions from disclosing citizenship information, requires staff to be trained on verifying immigration warrants and helps students access immigrant rights resources.

“We are a nation of immigrants. Our communities speak various languages and are part of so many different cultures,” said Davis. “Illegally detaining people on suspicions of their immigration does not help us thrive. Our diverse community is not an obstruction or problem to solve, but rather a conductor for our success and livelihood.”

House Bill 1312 was signed into law by the governor earlier today.

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