Board approves one-year renewal of APPRIS victim-notification contract after advocates warn clause could let ICE access county data

Cook County commissioners approved a one-year renewal amendment to the county's contract with APPRIS Insights (the VINE victim-notification service) after more than an hour of public testimony raising data-sharing and immigrant-rights concerns and extended questions from multiple commissioners.

Advocates and immigrant-rights organizations urged the board to reject or amend item 243473, saying that language buried in the APPRIS contract's "risk solutions" exhibit allows third-party data brokers to access county incarceration data and could permit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to obtain information used to locate and detain immigrants. "This contract contains language referring to 'risk solutions' that creates a backdoor for federal immigration authorities to get personal information," said Fred Tsao of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights during public comment.

Speakers provided examples, described personal harms, and asked the board to remove the clause before renewing the contract. Claudia Marchand, executive director of Northern Illinois…