(The Center Square) – After U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested a criminal suspect who had been released in Lake County, elected officials are calling for changes to Illinois’ SAFE-T Act.
According to an ICE statement, Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, 52, was arrested in Chicago on Saturday. In April, the Mexican national was charged with four felonies, including concealing a death, abusing a corpse and obstructing justice in connection with the death of 37-year-old Megan Bos of Antioch. A Lake County judge released Mendoza-Gonzalez under the Pretrial Fairness Act.
The Pretrial Fairness Act was part of the Safety Accountability Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T, Act that passed during a lame duck session of the General Assembly in January 2021. After lawsuits from county prosecutors from across the state, the Pretrial Fairness Act was enacted when the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the measure, allowing it to go into effect in September 2023, effectively ending cash bail statewide, the first state in the nation to do so.
Several elected officials are calling for changes to Illinois’ SAFE-T Act.
Antioch Mayor Scott Gartner said the law must be reevaluated to give judges discretion.
“Not only judicial discretion but common sense, especially when there’s death or dismemberment or any type of violent crimes, if we can’t trust our judges to make independent decisions in that regard, then I guess we have a bigger problem on the type of judges that we’re putting into place. To take that out of their hands with a blanket act checking a few boxes doesn’t make sense to me,” Gartner told The Center Square.
Gartner said some officials have changed their tune since ICE arrested Mendoza-Gonzalez over the weekend.
“I think it’s ironic that, now that the Department of Homeland Security or the federal government has picked this individual up, that the local state’s attorneys are clamoring to get him back because they want to make sure he faces justice, even though they let him walk out of jail in April,” Gartner explained.
In a statement released Sunday, ICE officials noted that Mendoza-Gonzalez was charged in April.
“However, Lake County Judge Randie Bruno released him from custody at the conclusion of his court appearance, where he was immediately allowed to freely roam the Chicago streets,” the statement read.
According to ICE, Mendoza-Gonzalez is currently being held at Lake County Jail in Waukegan.
“Everyday ICE is arresting sickos like criminal illegal alien, Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, and stopping them from terrorizing Americans. This depraved alien was charged with concealing the body of a missing woman in a storage container for months and abusing her corpse. It is absolutely repulsive that a judge freed this monster and allowed him to walk free on Illinois’s streets after allegedly committing such a heinous crime. Under President [Donald] Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, Megan Bos and her family will have justice,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the ICE statement.
Illinois state Rep. Patrick Sheehan, R-Homer Glen, said he spoke with Megan’s mother, Jennifer, Monday morning.
“She said, obviously, Megan’s not going to be able to come back, but what ICE and the Trump administration were able to do for her was give her that sort of peace,” Sheehan told The Center Square. “Her big issue was knowing that Luis Mendoza was still out there at large, released because of the SAFE-T Act and the flawed policies that have been enacted since 2023.”
Sheehan said Mendoza-Gonzalez spent less than 24 hours in jail because of the SAFE-T Act.
“He goes right back to the scene of the crime, so anything that [Jennifer Bos] feels like the police or any of the crime scene investigators may have missed, he could have disposed of,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan, who is a police officer, said law enforcement is handcuffed and Illinois courts are powerless while criminals walk free.
“We need to hold criminals accountable and ensure families can have peace. It shouldn’t take ICE agents to clean up this horrific failure of Illinois law,” Sheehan said in a statement.
The Illinois Freedom Caucus issued a statement on Saturday.
“Governor [J.B.] Pritzker’s pro-criminal policies put Illinoisans at risk, but ICE is doing the tough work of enforcing the law and protecting innocent lives. We thank ICE, and all our brave law enforcement for their dedication and urge J.B. Pritzker to stop protecting these criminals and prioritize Illinois citizens,” the statement read.
Trump administration border czar Tom Homan said Monday that sanctuary cities are now a priority for ICE.
“We’re going to flood the zone,” Homan said at a press conference in New York.
Homan said agents would arrest “bad guys” in the community if sanctuary policies prevented them from arresting them at the county jail.
“And when we arrest him in the community, if he’s with others that are in the country illegally, they’re coming, too,” Homan promised.
Homan spoke after a noncitizen in the U.S. illegally who previously had been arrested and released in New York City four times allegedly shot and injured an ICE agent in Manhattan Saturday.
According to a Chicago Tribune report which analyzed bookings at ICE facilities in Broadview and Chicago and information shared by Deportation Data Project, ICE arrests in and around Chicago have increased significantly during President Donald Trump’s second term.
The analysis found that ICE officials detained three times the number of immigrants convicted of crimes than in President Joe Biden’s last 150 days in office. The report also found that, under Trump, ICE detained nine times as many immigrants that did not have a known criminal past.
The Tribune also found that Trump’s first 150 days, immigration officials booked nearly double the number of people convicted of sex crimes or violent felonies, compared with Biden’s last 150 days.
Greg Bishop and Morgan Sweeney contributed to this story.
