A press release from McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally:

Last Remaining “Illinois Trust Act” Legal Action Dissolved

A civil suit against McHenry County Sheriff Bill Prim alleging unlawful incarceration was dropped Wednesday, putting an end to the protracted litigation which began early last fall involving
the controversial Illinois Trust Act.

The complaint, filed by former Crystal Lake resident Pascasio Martinez, was dismissed without prejudice by Judge Thomas A. Meyer.

In early September, Martinez was being held in the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility (MCACF) on a felony Driving Under the Influence (DUI) charge when he was converted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities to an inmate held on their authority under a contract between McHenry County and ICE.

KRV Legal Inc., a law firm, filed the complaint alleging that Martinez’s continued incarceration was unlawful.

Last week, pending criminal charges against Martinez were stricken with leave to reinstate by the State’s Attorney’s Office.

Martinez is currently in ICE custody at another facility and, as a Mexican national in this country illegally, is awaiting the outcome of deportation proceedings.

The controversy began with the Illinois General Assembly passing and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signing the Illinois Trust Act (P.A. 100-0463), which went into force and effect on Aug. 28, 2017. Niceforo Macedo-Hernandez, a Mexican national, had been held in the Jail since Aug. 9 on domestic battery charges arising from an incident at his home in Crystal Lake.

Niceforo Macedo-Hernandez from 2017.

Several days after the Trust Act went into effect, and claiming that the Sheriff’s Office was continuing to hold Macedo-Hernandez on an immigration detainer in violation of the Act, KRV Legal filed a series of motions which in time came to embrace other defendants alleged to be in the same situation, some named and others unnamed, as part of a class action.

That class action was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs on Nov. 7.

“I restate now what I have said for the last six months, namely that throughout this we have followed the law, with public safety being our first and foremost consideration,” said Sheriff Bill
Prim.

“I am confident this issue is now behind us, and that public safety has at no time been compromised.”

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The situation resulted from Governor Bruce Rauner’s having signed the so-called Sanctuary State bill.