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Over 24,000 migrants, mostly from the southern U. S. boarder, have entered Illinois over the past 15 months. Most ended up in Chicago. And State Senator Chapin Rose says besides the issue of cities near Chicago being disrupted with arguments about whether to accept any of the migrants, the entire state should be very worried about important state funding getting sucked up by all this.
Rose says by his accounts, Illinois has gone from spending zero to $1.1 Billion on migrant care in just three years, with Governor Pritzker already projecting a $900,000 deficit for the new budget that starts next July. Rose says this spells major trouble for everyone, including right here in Vermilion County.
AUDIO: That’s less roads for Vermilion County. That’s less agriculture dollars. It’s less health care/Medicaid for local hospitals. It’s less dollars for K-12 schools, the University of Illinois, Danville Area Community College. All those things are now facing headwinds.
And up in Chicago, Rose says, let’s face it; they are coming face to face with what could be major tragedy.
AUDIO: Now you’ve got all these people that are here, living on the streets, and they’re going to freeze to death. As it is with progressive leftist liberals, whose hearts are bigger than their heads; when they shout things like “Sanctuary city! Come here,” like the mayor of Chicago. “Sanctuary state! Come here,” like the governor of Illinois; what did you think was going to happen?
And of course, just this week, the idea of building a giant tent shelter system in the Brighton Park area was suspended due to contaminated soil concerns. Senator Rose says that was another case of putting two and two together and not getting four.
AUDIO: Their plan was to put up a massive tent city over what is basically a toxic waste site with airborne mercury, which will kill people who inhale it. And then they found out this week, as the temperatures are dropping, “Oops, we can’t put it there.”
Senator Rose says the simple fact is that the progressives asked for this problem, stared at it all summer long, and now have the crisis right at their doorstep.
