Political Rewind: Feds Requiring Illinois to Report Arrested Illegal Immigrants

Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Statehouse News that were written by various Illinois Statehouse News reporters.

New political map means new faces in GA

Every legislator in Illinois has to run in a new district in 2012, causing some to ask this question: Is it worth it?

Once a decade, the political landscape shifts, as the legislative districts are redrawn to represent population changes in the census figures. Voters have more than 14 months until they will decide the fate of 177 state lawmakers, but some legislators are taking their political futures into their own hands. 

Some legislators have announced bids for reelection in a new district; others, like state Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, are seeking higher office with a run for U.S. Congress. But some members of the General Assembly, facing an election in unfamiliar territory, are bowing out of public life.

Uncashed checks to be curated by state quicker

Abandoned paychecks now will start flowing into the Illinois Treasurer’s Office in 12 months instead of five years, following Gov. Pat Quinn signing this new law Monday.

The Treasurer’s Office handles abandoned property banks and business turn over to the state, whether it’s an unused checking account or a forgotten paycheck. The state, then, invests that money, while it looks for its rightful owner. 

“It was not supposed to be an investment enhancement,” said Catie Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Treasurer Dan Rutherford’s office. “The idea was just to be able to notify people in a more timely fashion that they have this unclaimed paycheck.” 

Until recently, the state didn’t consider unused checking accounts or forgotten paychecks abandoned, until they were untouched for five years, and that’s still the case for everything except for deserted payrolls. 

The state receives about 37,000 unclaimed payroll checks every year that add up to about $5 million. Currently, the state has about $1.5 billion of abandoned property, including uncashed paychecks. 

On average, about $80 million in unclaimed property is returned to the rightful owner every year, Sheehan said.

Feds buck Quinn, order cooperation in deportation program

The federal government is requiring Illinois police to report illegal immigrants who are arrested on any charge from public intoxication to murder, in spite of Gov. Pat Quinn’s  opposition.

On Friday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, canceled contracts with the 39 states participating in Secure Communities — a program in which local and state law enforcement officials share fingerprints with the federal government. 

ICE, the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, did not cancel the contracts to end the program, but rather to assert that ICE doesn't need a state's permission, in this case via a contract, to operate the deportation program. 

“ICE continues to work with its law enforcement partners across the country to responsibly and effectively implement this federal information sharing capability,”

ICE Director John Morton said in a news release. ICE’s action came three months after Quinn ended Illinois’ timid two-year participation in Secure Communities. Since the program started in November 2009, 76 of Illinois’ 102 counties abstained from participating, the most notable being Cook County, home to Chicago.