Illinois sheriff: Recent sexual assault reveals problems with ‘sanctuary state’

(The Center Square) – An Illinois County sheriff says a recent sexual assault of a minor allegedly at the hands of an illegal foreign national reveals the problems with Illinois being a “sanctuary state.”

Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey shared recently a 6-year-old girl was sexually assaulted. The suspect was referenced as a step father and arrested.

“As it turns out, during that time we received a detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that’s how we discovered that he was here illegally,” Downey told The Center Square.

Last year, the suspect, Juan Alvizar, was cited separately for a seat belt violation and driving up to 25 miles an hour over the limit. He now faces charges of criminal sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony.

“This poor 6-year-old girl who is a victim of such a heinous crime could have been prevented and should have been prevented,” Downey said.

Alvizar is being held at Jerome Combs Detention Center with no bond. Arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 18.

Former President Donald Trump, who has criticized the Biden-Harris administration’s lax border policies, said at a recent news conference he will start the largest mass deportation in the history of the country if he’s elected.

“And we’re going to start with violent criminals and we’re gonna start then with criminals and our local police is going to work with us because they know everything about the people,” Trump said.

Downey said that will be difficult in Illinois. It’s hard to tell how often criminal suspects they arrest are non-citizen migrants because he said they can’t even ask about citizenship status. The Illinois’ TRUST Act prohibits local law enforcement from participating in federal immigration enforcement. He said they honor warrants from other states.

“We cannot do that with ICE with a detainer, and so they’re walking out all over the state of Illinois, county jails and the Illinois Department of Corrections as well,” Downey said.

Communities at the southern U.S. border have been inundated with millions of non-citizen migrants crossing into the U.S. over the past 3 years. As a sanctuary city, Chicago has received more than 45,000 non-citizen migrants from the southern U.S. since August 2022.

“We are a direct pipeline from the city of Chicago. Interstate 57 runs right through Kankakee County and so there are a number of those who are here illegally in the community already,” Downey said.

Illinois taxpayer subsidies to give non-citizen migrants housing, food, school, health care and even immigration lawyers exceeds $1 billion with more than $900 million in state taxpayer funds budget for fiscal year 2025.

Recent data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows since 2021, 26,000 ICE arrests and 8,900 deportations from the Chicago Area of Responsibility, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin. A representative from the Chicago office couldn’t be immediately reached for comment to answer how many of such arrests and deportations are from Illinois.