Community members gathered Tuesday afternoon outside of the McHenry County Board meeting ahead of a vote on a resolution that calls for the end of a federal contract that allows immigrants facing deportation to be held at the McHenry County Jail.
Screenshot
The McHenry County Board voted Tuesday night to keep a federal contract that allows the local jail to house immigrants facing deportation.
The vote 15 to 8 came after more than two hours of heated public comments. The resolution had called for county officials to begin ending its agreement with the federal government by Nov. 1, 2021, citing a loss of revenue in 2020 and for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021.
Kankakee man facing felony charges for possession of child porn fox32chicago.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fox32chicago.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Provided
Irbin Rocha got a form about a month ago asking if he wanted to take the vaccine against COVID-19 while in immigration custody at the Jerome Combs Detention Center.
But an outbreak in January left Rocha and at least 21 other immigration detainees sick with COVID-19 just before they became eligible for a vaccine in Illinois, according to statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s website. As of Monday, there were 13 active COVID-19 cases out of a total of 22, according to ICE.
“Everybody got different symptoms,” Rocha said last week during a phone call from the jail, which is about 60 miles south of Chicago. “Some of the older people, it’s hard for them. Some of them, they are still sick, they get out of breath.”
KANKAKEE â Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey said Tuesday afternoon that several inmates at Jerome Combs Detention Center are being treated by the medical department after they began showing symptoms of COVID-19.
Downey said the inmates were all in the same housing units. Several inmates were asking for cold medication because of cold-like symptoms, he said. Multiple inmates tested positive for coronavirus, according to a press release.
All inmates in the housing unit are quarantined for 14 days, Downey said. There are 18 housing units at JCDC.
âThankfully, we are in possession of the Abbott Rapid Test that allows us to verify whether or not a detainee is, in fact, positive with the coronavirus. Those testing positive have been quarantined from the remaining population and are being closely monitored by medical staff,â Downey said.