Cook County Sheriff talks immigration enforcement

Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen summed up his department’s relationship to immigration enforcement, “We basically don’t play a role.”

During the first month of his second term,  President Donald Trump called for an increase in deportations and more arrests of undocumented immigrants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Across the nation, this has left local law enforcement leaders clarifying their role when it comes to questions of immigration and documentation.

“We have plenty of other things to do within the scope of the sheriff’s office in Cook County that keep us plenty busy,” Eliasen told WTIP. He said that unless an individual has violated a state law, his department doesn’t play a role in their interaction with law or immigration enforcement.

Operation Stonegarden

Through Operation Stonegarden, the Cook County Sheriff’s Department receives federal grant funding to assist with some boarder patrol tasks. Eliasen clarified, however, that the assistance offered by local deputies is limited. He said, “We are basically looking for smuggling operations, whether that’s goods and services, or whether it’s people, or what have you.”

Amid talks of cuts for many federal grant programs, Eliasen said, in the event that Operation Stonegarden is eliminated, the impact on his department may be fairly minimal.

“In the past, Stonegarden money provided us with a lot of opportunities to buy equipment, snowmobiles and ATVs and outdoor gear for the for the staff, which would not be under the county’s budget, which was fantastic,” Eliasen said. He added that because the department has been able to accumulate equipment over the past few years, they do not have additional significant needs in that area.

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with Sheriff Pat Eliasen about how his department is impacted by changes at the federal level. Audio of that interview is below.

Kirsten Wisniewski February 18, 2025