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County board member urges tracking of ICE detainers, cites sheriff reports
Summary
Kate Hancock Cook told the Board of Health she has seen sheriff reports indicating ICE detainers and transfers in Winnebago County and asked that county bodies share and validate reports of ICE presence; the chair said the health meeting is constrained to health-department business but staff agreed the health department can be a data source.
Kate Hancock Cook, a member of both the Winnebago County board and the Board of Health, used the public-comment period to raise concerns about reported local immigration-enforcement activity and asked for better interagency tracking.
"The sheriff's department provided a report for all of 2025: 17 people were placed on detainer by ICE and 10 were turned over," Kate Hancock Cook said, adding those figures were out of about 228 bookings of people not born in the United States. She urged anyone who sees ICE in neighborhoods to report it to the Judicial and Public Safety Commission so the sheriff and county can validate incidents.
The chair responded that the health-department meeting generally limits public comment to items on the health agenda but acknowledged staff and the health department interact with the affected populations and could be a reporting source. Kate Hancock Cook maintained the issue intersects with public-health concerns and asked staff to help gather data or forward reports to the appropriate commission.
No formal action was taken at the meeting; board members and staff said they would continue to coordinate on where incident reports should be directed and how to surface validated data for county review.
