CHICAGO , Illinois ( CNN ) -- An outraged sheriff in Illinois who refuses to evict `` innocent '' renters from foreclosed homes criticized mortgage companies Thursday and said the law should protect victims of the mortgage meltdown . Cook County , Illinois , Sheriff Thomas J . Dart says too many renters are being evicted for landlords ' problems . Sheriff Thomas J . Dart said earlier he is suspending foreclosure evictions in Cook County , which includes the city of Chicago . The county had been on track to reach a record number of evictions , many because of mortgage foreclosures . Many good tenants are suffering because building owners have fallen behind on their mortgage payments , he said Thursday on CNN 's `` American Morning . '' `` These poor people are seeing everything they own put out on the street . ... They 've paid their bills , paid them on time . Here we are with a battering ram at the front door going to throw them out . It 's gotten insane , '' he said . Watch Dart slam mortgage companies » . Mortgage companies are supposed to identify a building 's occupants before asking for an eviction , but sheriff 's deputies routinely find that the mortgage companies have not done so , Dart said . `` This is an example where the banking industry has not done any of the work they should do . It 's a piece of paper to them , '' Dart said . `` These mortgage companies ... do n't care who 's in the building , '' Dart said Wednesday . `` They simply want their money and do n't care who gets hurt along the way . `` On top of it all , they want taxpayers to fund their investigative work for them . We 're not going to do their jobs for them anymore . We 're just not going to evict innocent tenants . It stops today . '' Dart said he wants the courts or the state Legislature to establish protections for those most harmed by the mortgage crisis . In 1999 , Cook County had 12,935 mortgage foreclosure cases ; in 2006 , 18,916 cases were filed , and last year , 32,269 were filed . This year 's total is expected to exceed 43,000 . `` The people we 're interacting with are , many times , oblivious to the financial straits their landlord might be in , '' Dart said . `` They are the innocent victims here , and they are the ones all of us must step up and find some way to protect . '' Watch sheriff announce he wo n't evict innocent tenants » . The Illinois Bankers Association opposed the plan , saying that Dart `` was elected to uphold the law and to fulfill the legal duties of his office , which include serving eviction notices . '' The association said Dart could be found in contempt of court for ignoring court eviction orders . `` The reality is that by ignoring the law and his legal responsibilities , he is carrying out 'vigilantism ' at the highest level of an elected official , '' it said . `` The Illinois banking industry is working hard to help troubled homeowners in many ways , but Sheriff Dart 's declaration of 'martial law ' should not be tolerated . '' Dart was undeterred Thursday . `` I think the outrage on my part with them [ is ] that they could so cavalierly issue documents and have me throw people out of homes who have done absolutely nothing wrong , '' Dart said . `` They played by all the rules . `` I told them , 'You send an agent out , you send somebody out that gives me any type of assurance that the appropriate person is in the house , I will fulfill the order . ' iReport.com : How hard have foreclosures hit your neighborhood ? `` When you 're blindly sending me out to houses where I 'm coming across innocent tenant after innocent tenant , I ca n't keep doing this and have a good conscience about it . ''
NEW : Sheriff : ' I ca n't keep doing this and have a good conscience about it ' Sheriff Thomas Dart says he is suspending foreclosure evictions in Cook County . Illinois Bankers Association opposes plan , says sheriff could be found in contempt . Cook County on pace to exceed 43,000 foreclosure cases this year .