The American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] of Illinois is responding to multiple civil liberties issues across the state, including the possibility of a camera company illegally sharing its data with federal immigration enforcement.
Bloomington Police Department’s [BPD] Chad Wamsley, who is assistant police chief, told the Public Safety and Community Relations Board this week their automatic license plate readers [ALPR] from Flock Safety did not have any data shared. He said ALPRs are only used to investigate serious crimes.
Ed Yohnka, ACLU Illinois director of communications and public policy, is skeptical of Flock’s claim it was not aware of any immigration-related searches.
Yohnka visited Illinois State University to meet with students from a campus chapter of the ACLU.
“I’m concerned, I don’t know, and I think even as the attorney general, and the secretary of state have said with regards to this, there’s lots more that we would like to know,” he said.
Yohnka said there were two main points made repeatedly by Flock and other companies as the cameras were starting to be adopted across the state a couple years ago.
“Number one was they would only be used to investigate the most serious of crimes, actually violent criminal acts and that, number two, they would not be used for things like immigration enforcement, or to collect information about people who came to Illinois from another state to seek lawful healthcare,” said Yohnka.
He said in reality, those reasons are what the cameras have been used for because of their accuracy.
BPD has defended its use of the cameras, saying the ALPR technology is used “conservatively” compared with other departments. In 2024, BPD officers were able to use the cameras to locate the suspect of a shooting in less than one hour, though no BPD spokesperson would comment on the case.
Yohnka said if the cameras are as helpful as police say, they should be more closely studied.
“But let’s actually do a detailed study, and when you hear a murder was resolved, was the camera the thing that did it or was it some other piece of information and the camera confirmed it?” Yohnka said. “Like knowing that in some detail and knowing how efficient and effective these cameras actually are, are something that every community ought to do.”
The Trump administration
On another topic, the Trump Administration has said it wants to end cashless bail — a practice Illinois was the first to take part in two years ago.
The system involves a judge’s decision to allow pre-release of a defendant before trial without having to pay money. In Illinois, the judge decides to release a defendant based on criminal charges and their perceived threat before trial.
Yohnka said the ACLU Illinois will fight against the Trump move — just as they have in other states.
“The money bond has been ended in Illinois; Donald Trump doesn’t have anything to do with that program, this was a program adopted through the small-d democratic process…” he said. “That system will proceed, Donald Trump cannot commandeer the operations of the state of Illinois simply because he disagrees with a policy.”
In other efforts, federal funding has been rescinded for states that don't follow the president’s wishes for certain policies. Yohnka said that is a possibility if Illinois chooses to keep cashless bail, similar to when states have not cooperated with federal immigration authorities.
“Courts blocked that move, and the reason they blocked it are, number one, that you can’t put conditions on funding beyond the ones congress approved at the time that they granted the funding, and no congress has ever said that this is the way this happens,” he said. “And the other element is, of course, the administration cannot simply abandon the state of Illinois and folks here around money that goes for public safety and other things simply because they disagree with one policy.”
Trump also said he was in the process of planning to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago to mimic the deployment in Washington, D.C. He has since backed off.
Yohnka said it is another move he disagrees with.
“There is no reason to do this, this is simply Donald Trump trying to display some sort of dictatorial or authoritative power. There is no emergency, there is no urgency, there is no situation that justifies this,” said Yohnka.
While he thinks there is no danger in Chicago, it would be the presence of the troops that would cause actual disruption. Regardless, he said ACLU Illinois is preparing to challenge the possible deployment.
Yohnka said, “From our perspective, much like our colleagues did in [Los Angeles] when the national guard and troops went in there, we’ll be looking at things like whether or not they’re using this as cover for using racial profiling to do immigration enforcement, if in fact you see the use of excessive force or if you see efforts to limit legitimate peaceful protest or the media from covering federal action.”
Even if the troops were not practicing anything unfair or illegal, Yohnka said the ACLU would still be open to challenging their presence.
“Then I think it would be a matter of if the governor or attorney general filed a suit to challenge the sending of the troops themselves, I feel quite certain we would file an amicus brief, we would file a friend of the court brief, join that litigation and make the case against the need for this…”
Medical aid in dying
Last fall, the Illinois House approved a measure for medical aid in dying. The state Senate took no action before the spring session.
The ALCU was one of the bills’ proponents. Religious groups and some disability advocates oppose the bill and say a medical right to die is assisted suicide.
Yohnka acknowledged it can be a divisive issue with passionate views for and against.
“There’s no question that medical aid in dying is not a service that everybody would use,” he said. “I think the second thing is where you hear concerns from people that it’s not something for them. I think that’s a perfectly appropriate position, but the problem is is that they’re trying to use their concerns in order to block this access for people…”
Yohnka said in the 10 states and the District of Columbia where medical aid in dying is legal, most people do not actually use their end-of-life prescription. He said they find comfort in having it in the case they do decide to use it.
Disability advocates have claimed the option could make it more difficult for the disabled to advocate for themselves.
“[ACLU] advocates for disability rights, we’ve worked with many of the groups who are opposed to this in assuring that people with disabilities have the freedom to live in the community as they’re…permitted to under the Americans with Disabilities Act and we fought very hard to give them that independence,” said Yohnka. “It’s really strange to hear somehow that then as we’re fighting for that, people suggest that we also want to coerce people into ending their lives.”
Yohnka said the law has guard rails to ensure no one is taken advantage of and follows the successes of similar laws around the nation.
“It takes two doctors, if either of the doctors thinks the person might not be mentally capable of making the decision, they refer that person to a psychiatrist, the person has to be able to take the medication on their own, they have to request it three times including one time in writing,” he said. “There’s a number of different guards in place that I think guard against some of those things…”
The ACLU is advocating at a policy level for medical aid in dying, a different matter than how a health care advocate will speak on behalf of a patient in the health care system. While that is not what they are focused on, Yohnka said it is still something in need of improvement, adding "... and the truth is is that as we’re working on that, I’d hate to see us deny people, as they’re suffering at the end of their life, the opportunity to have this one last bit of control over how and when they die.”
The ACLU and other advocates said they will try again this fall to move the bill forward.
