SPRINGFIELD – Despite threats from the Trump Administration to cut federal law enforcement funding to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials, Illinois is moving towards becoming the nation's fifth sanctuary state after California, Connecticut, New Mexico and Colorado.
With one vote to spare, the Illinois Senate passed a SB 031 Thursday, which would set Illinois state-funded schools, health care centers and secretary of state facilities as "safe zones" for undocumented immigrants to find protection from federal law enforcement.
In those locations throughout the state, state and local police would be prohibited from arresting persons based on their immigration status – the same practice now in place in the city of Chicago and Cook County.
Those senators signing onto SB 031 are all Democrats – Sen. John J. Cullerton – Don Harmon – Iris Y. Martinez – Daniel Biss – Martin A. Sandoval, Cristina Castro, Heather A. Steans, Omar Aquino, Linda Holmes, Jacqueline Y. Collins, Patricia Van Pelt, Ira I. Silverstein and David Koehler.
The bill will now proceed to the Illinois House, where a similar measure stalled earlier this year.
A House query with the Department of Human Services estimated the minimal cost for the program would be $5 million, based on the current $1.9 million Immigrant Family Resource Program (IFRP), which educates and assists immigrants on Department of Human Service (DHS) benefits.
That amount would be likely to grow substantially, the findings showed, because in addition to providing multi-lingual education, DHS would be responsible for the required training of various providers–such as health care and education–statewide.
That number does not include the cost of the state-provided benefits for those escaping law enforcement – and encouraging non-citizens to evade federal laws.
"I just didn't want to lose the irony of the moment that we're going to pass a law to tell law enforcement not to enforce the law," the Tribune reported Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon, said during the Senate debate.
When Illinois Review reported on this measure being introduced in the Illinois House earlier this year, nine Democrats had signed on as co-sponsors. The number of House Democrats signing onto the idea has increased substantially since that time:
Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch – Kathleen Willis – Elizabeth Hernandez – Theresa Mah – Robyn Gabel, Ann M. Williams, Gregory Harris, Thaddeus Jones, Silvana Tabares, Kelly M. Cassidy, Michael J. Zalewski, Laura Fine, Litesa E. Wallace, Christian L. Mitchell, Rita Mayfield, Lawrence Walsh, Jr., Will Guzzardi, Luis Arroyo, Camille Y. Lilly, Daniel J. Burke, Sam Yingling, La Shawn K. Ford, Anna Moeller, Barbara Flynn Currie, Juliana Stratton, Natalie A. Manley, Sara Feigenholtz, William Davis, Jaime M. Andrade, Jr., Linda Chapa LaVia and Carol Ammons
