Over the weekend there was an article in the Sun Times that had a headline stating police in Chicago are being investigated for possible improper sexual conduct with immigrants. There are allegations that multiple police officers are having sexual acts with teenage immigrants. One officer is accused of impregnating a teenage girl.

I respect the police, but this favorable headline treatment is ridiculous. These cops are being accused of rape and sexual assault. That’s what it is. If the teens are under 18 it’s statutory rape. If not, do you really believe that these fresh to the country teens are so horny and hot for cops that they voluntarily engaged in sexual acts with them?

Of course they didn’t. There’s a huge power imbalance here. We’ve seen scores of instances across the country, including many in Illinois, where police have pressured women to have sex with them or blatantly raped them. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that’s what is happening here.

I hope these immigrants understand that they have rights and that includes the right to sue the police. They can and should do that. This power inbalance is no different than if a lawyer pressured a client for sex or a doctor did that to a patient. It’s not too dissimilar to the power imbalance sexual abuse and hazing allegations recently in the news against Northwestern. We’ve sadly seen those situations many times too and have represented people in all of these types of cases.

Coerced or forced sexual activity is sexual assault. Any officers that did that should be stripped up their police powers and arrested. It puts a huge stain on good cops. Any victim should file a lawsuit and I hope that they recover millions. Them being immigrants doesn’t change their rights in any way and may actually make the situation worse as for some this is their first exposure to the United States.

We have helped hundreds of sexual assault victims with their lawsuits. If you would like to speak with an attorney for free and in confidence you can call us any time at 312-346-5320.