By Townhall Chicago News Staff
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office on Sunday announced a revised vendor contract that explicitly prohibits the sharing of personal data that could be used by federal immigration enforcement agencies.
The policy makes Cook County one of the first jurisdictions in the country to add such a prohibition to a vendor agreement, according to the office. It targets the contract with Appriss Inc., a company that facilitates legally required victim notifications when an offender is released from custody.
Under the revised contract, which took effect immediately, Appriss must prevent any party it contracts with from accessing or purchasing personal information of individuals held in the Cook County Jail. The office had already required Appriss to shut off a data feed supplying information to third parties in August, according to the announcement.
“Everyone participating in the justice system — regardless of immigration status — should be able to trust that their personal information will be protected,” State’s Attorney Eileen Burke said in a news release. “We will continue to stand up for our immigrant communities and try to reduce the harm that’s been caused by ICE’s reckless actions. When victims, witnesses, and defendants are afraid to come to court, it undermines our ability to seek justice and keep our communities safe.”
Concerns over Appriss’ relationships with its other customers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, have driven scrutiny of the company’s data-sharing practices since at least 2022, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
Burke’s office first updated the Appriss contract in October 2025 to prohibit data sharing directly with ICE. The latest revision adds a broader layer of protection by requiring Appriss to cease all data sharing with databases, including LexisNexis Risk Solutions, that may sell private information to federal agencies, according to the release.
The changes come as ICE agents have repeatedly appeared at Cook County courthouses over the past year, according to the office. Agents have been spotted at the Domestic Violence Courthouse, the Leighton Criminal Courthouse and the Markham Courthouse. In some cases, agents made arrests on courthouse property. In others, they waited for individuals to leave court proceedings before taking them into custody, the release said.
A coalition of organizations that advocated for the contract change issued a joint statement praising the decision.
“Today, we celebrate a hard-won victory for the privacy and safety of Cook County residents,” the coalition said. The groups include Mijente, Organized Communities against Deportations, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Just Futures Law.
“Companies hired to serve our communities should not be allowed to turn around and profit by selling our information to ICE and the Trump administration,” the coalition’s statement said. “This change happened because community organizations uncovered how the Appriss contract could allow local information to reach ICE, and demanded that elected officials take action.”
Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya also called for other county agencies to follow suit.
“After years of advocacy, dangerous language that allowed the sharing of personal information will finally be removed from the Appriss contract,” Anaya said in the release. “I call upon other county agencies to join our collective push to close loopholes and uphold our value of being a welcoming county for all.”
The state’s attorney’s office said it also supports immigrant communities by certifying U-Visa applications for crime victims, facilitating virtual meetings to reduce ICE encounters at courthouses and upholding the Illinois TRUST Act, which prohibits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
