As lawmakers return to Springfield Tuesday, the migrant crisis in Chicago moves to the top of their agenda. Republicans introduced a package of legislation designed to strip Illinois of its sanctuary status and make it a less attractive alternative for asylum seekers.
They want to repeal the Trust Act which keeps local police from talking to Immigration and Customs Enforcement about undocumented individuals. They also want to reduce health care expenditures and education spending on asylum seekers.
“Our job as elected officials is to protect those taxpayers that pay our salaries and pay for everything under this dome,” said State Rep. John Cabello from Rockford.
In Chicago, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications said that no new buses of asylum seekers have arrived from the Southern border states and that the official drop off site no longer has any migrants staying in CTA warming buses.
There are still more than 200 people awaiting placement at O’Hare and another 12 in the warming center at the Harold Washington Library.
The lull comes after Texas Governor Gregg Abbott refused a request by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to stop sending busloads of migrants in the subzero cold. Pritzker responded by placing full page ads in five Texas newspapers pleading for a stop to state transports to save lives.
“Its dangerous to send a busload of migrants who don’t have jackets, who don’t have shoes, proper shoes, to a climate like the one we are in now,” Pritzker said while campaigning for President Joe Biden at Monday’s Iowa Republican Caucuses.
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Who will pay for housing migrants? According to Politico, both Chicago and New York City are teaming up to ask the Department of Homeland Security for more money.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Chicago Budget Director Annette Guzman reportedly signed a letter Director Alejandro Mayorkas saying the cities have not received proper reimbursement from the federal government.
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Cost is a major concern for Illinois Republicans as well. They claim their new legislative package is deigned to stave off tax increases to pay for migrant services.
