Lake County Sheriff Blasts Daley, Immigration Policy

By Margaret Lyons in News on Sep 19, 2008 6:06PM

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran says rising crime is due to Chicago's role as a "sanctuary" for illegal immigrants. He says there's only so much he can do to stop "the terror inflicted by many of these illegal aliens." And then the fun started.

Curran, who wants Lake County law enforcement to have deportation powers, complained that Illinois and Chicago have "shown little interest in cooperating" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Throw the bums out of Springfield and Washington but treat the illegal immigrants with love and respect," he said. "How many public school kids did we have to bury last year because of Mayor Daley's inability to keep a lid on crime even with a chief of police that earns more than $320,000 a year?"

Mayor Daley disputed Curran's claims. "Immigrants do not commit the high percentage of crime that sometimes those anti-immigrant groups [claim]," he said. He added that Chicago's "past, present and future" is as a city of immigrants.

According to a recent audit, 122 of Lake County's 637 inmates have illegal or questionable residence in the US. [Lake County News Sun, NBC 5, other Lake County News Sun, AP, Trib, S-T]