Some Illinois senators are criticizing Governor JB Pritzker’s intentions to spend an additional 182 million dollars to assist in providing services and relocation for migrants.
Illinois’s Capitol News reports The extra financing was disclosed by the governor last week and was part of his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
These funds, together with funds from Cook County, are intended to provide long-term housing and additional social assistance for migrants who have been transported to Illinois by bus and airplane from states bordering the southern United States, most notably Texas.
The House Republicans’ point person on financial matters, Representative Norine Hammond, asserts that the state must reevaluate its spending objectives.
“Over $2.8 billion – $2.8 BILLION dollars – has been dedicated to services for migrants and undocumented immigrants, while services for our most vulnerable citizens remain chronically underfunded and underserved.”
Comptroller Susana Mendoza, meanwhile, maintains that the migration crisis is a humanitarian one rather than a political one.
“I am not happy that we’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on this. But I’m sure as hell going to track every penny of it, and make sure that we can go back and make our case to Washington that this was their problem, they’ve got to help us fix it.”
This month, Mendoza’s office unveiled an online gateway to monitor expenditures related to immigration matters.
She and Governor Pritzker also pledge to keep pressing the Biden Administration and Washington legislators to give states reacting to the flood of immigrants more assistance.
