ICE agent surveilled and arrested a person inside Cook County's Domestic Violence Courthouse, privileged from civil arrest under Illinois law

On the morning of May 1, 2026, around 9:30 a.m., a federal immigration agent entered the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse at 555 W. Harrison Street in Chicago. According to an internal Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security alert sent to county commissioners, the agent told courthouse security he "was conducting surveillance" and left the building after sheriff's deputies provided him copies of orders barring civil immigration arrests at the courthouse. Separately, Cook County Public Defender's Office tracking — built from community ICE watchers and rapid responders — found that federal agents detained at least one person inside the same courthouse that same morning, an outcome the county's own internal account did not report.

The Domestic Violence Courthouse is protected by two overlapping measures: a Cook County Circuit Court general administrative order, issued in October 2025, barring civil immigration arrests at county courthouses without a judicial warrant, and the Illinois Court Access, Safety and Participation Act (CASPA), signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in December 2025, which grants people attending state court proceedings a statutory privilege from civil arrest. The May 1 visit was one of at least 26 confirmed ICE appearances at Cook County courthouses between February 27 and May 8, 2026, tracked by the Public Defender's Office, with the Domestic Violence Courthouse the single most frequent site — accounting for 12 of the 26 appearances and six of the arrests recorded in that window. Federal agents were also documented at the Maywood, Rolling Meadows, Pullman, and Grand and Central courthouses during the same period, with confirmed arrests at Maywood, Pullman, and Grand and Central.

Advocates and county officials say the pattern chills survivors from appearing for their own protective-order hearings. Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vásquez and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights held a press conference the following week describing the courthouse activity as "a sound of the alarm," and the county's chief judge issued guidance on remote court appearances in response. The Trump administration has separately sued Illinois over CASPA, arguing courthouse arrests reduce flight and safety risks; that suit remains pending.