Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker offers financial assistance to immigrants through Welcome Centers. This came on the heel of his series of orders in 2019 to protect them against deportation. Among others, his decision to close private detention centers run by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has stoked debate.
Illinois has historically been a sanctuary state for immigrants. However, the closure of ICE centers and open support for illegal immigration may create social, economic, and security concerns for legal residents.
One in every seven Illinoisans is an immigrant, and about 22% are undocumented. This means that 3% of the state's total residents are illegal. At least 395,000 U.S. citizens in the state have a family member who arrived illegally. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Illinois is home to the third-highest number of individuals protected under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The state also boasts the third-largest community of illegal students.
Closing detention centers and allowing a more liberal regime for immigrants only encourage the inflow of more undocumented immigrants. This may hamper national efforts to curb illegal immigration. As the state has a massive community of immigrants from Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, welcoming undocumented immigrants will encourage human trafficking into Illinois.
Immigrants pay thousands of dollars to unscrupulous agents to reach Illinois. This causes suffering, pain, deaths, arrests, and untold hardship, which can be avoided when there is a threat of putting immigrants in detention centers.
ICE has a responsibility to stop illegal immigration. Shutting down detention centers makes ICE unable to arrest, detain, and prosecute illegal immigrants, which it is empowered to do under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Also, detention played a crucial role in protecting the exploitation of these vulnerable immigrants by their employers.
Their identification would have saved them from mistreatment, manipulation, illegal wages, forced labor, and abuse. As well as increase the possibility of immigrants getting permission to stay under the adjustment of status provision.
Illinois is struggling with an unemployment rate of 14.6%, and over 2 million residents have filed for job-loss benefits. Unless illegal immigration is curbed, this may worsen the available job opportunities for legal residents.
Since they are illegal and not skilled, immigrants are ready to work for lower wages in harmful conditions. Undocumented immigrants have contributed to low wages and shrinking employment for citizens and visa holders across the United States. This has particularly impacted the jobs of African Americans in the construction, light manufacturing, and hospitality sectors.
The recent decision of the governor to provide Medicaid benefits to illegal immigrants, monetary support to unauthorized immigrants aged over 65, and illegal students are sure to cause an extensive burden on the state finances.
Illinois is reeling under a $7 billion budget shortfall and debt. The administration often resorts to cuts in legitimate expenses, pensions, and developmental works. Instead of fixing the immigration issue, this benevolence will increase the economic burden of legal residents and citizens as they do not pay taxes to the systems that support these programs.
Undocumented immigrants entering Illinois are more likely to cause state law and order issues and may endanger local citizens. They are more vulnerable to social and economic marginalization, which may prompt them to commit crimes. ICE called out Cook County, which includes the metropolis of Chicago, earlier this year for "releasing illegal immigrants accused of committing crimes."
According to the Federal agency, the county denied requests to detain over 1,070 "removable" immigrants in 2019. Apart from violating immigration rules, these individuals were arrested on criminal charges and are believed to be "removable." Those charges include indecent exposure, domestic violence, strangulation, sexual assaults, physical assaults, and reckless discharge of a firearm.
In February 2020, Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey criticized the state administration for releasing undocumented immigrants with a criminal past and "making our communities and neighborhoods less safe." He stated how the state policy is aiding illegal immigrants found "guilty of murder, brandishing weapons, sexual offenses against minors, drug offenses, predatory criminal sexual assault, felony-level traffic offenses, including aggravated DUI."
Are the people of Illinois and immigrants living in the state lawfully ready to accept the increasing inflow of illegal immigrants, who pose a severe threat to their social life, employment, economic conditions, and security, which are already threatened after the closure of detention camps?
