Advocates Applaud Illinois House Passage of Private Detention Ban

Illinois House voted 85-26 to approve HB 2040, Rep. Kelly Cassidy’s Private Detention Facility Moratorium Act

 

CHICAGO (April 10, 2019)—The following is a statement from the Campaign for a Welcoming Illinois:

 

The Campaign for a Welcoming Illinois applauds the overwhelming bipartisan majority of the Illinois House that approved the Private Detention Facility Moratorium Act (HB 2040).  

 

HB 2040 upholds Illinois’ longstanding public policy opposing private prisons, extending it to civil detention functions like immigration detention. Private detention centers, such as the proposed immigration detention facility in Dwight, Illinois, profit from mass incarceration, primarily of immigrants and communities of color. Private prison operators maximize their income by keeping their facilities full while minimizing their expenses by cutting corners, even if that means putting lives at risk. They pursue their profit-maximizing goals without any public safety rationale even though better, more humane alternatives to detention are available.

 

We thank Rep. Kelly Cassidy for her strong and persistent leadership in moving this bill through, and we thank the hundreds of organizations and individuals, including our allies within the Campaign for a Welcoming Illinois and the #NoICEDwight campaign, who called their legislators, filed witness slips, and otherwise showed their support for HB 2040 and their opposition to private detention centers.    

 

No one should profit off human misery. We look forward to working with the State Senate and with Governor Pritzker to ensure that this bill will become law.

 

The Campaign for a Welcoming Illinois is an alliance of more than 85 organizations that seeks to pass state-level legislation to ensure that immigrants can fully participate in our society. 

 

###