It is easy to dismiss Illinois’ status as a sanctuary state as being yet another example of symbolism over substance, but the truth is the real-world impact of these policies is much more than mere woke virtual signaling.
Illinois’s immigration policies are having an impact on public safety. Illinois continues to enact laws to make it virtually impossible for local law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in any meaningful way. The end result is people who would normally be detained due to their immigration status are let go and are essentially free to commit crimes if that is their intent.
Obviously, the vast majority of people wishing to immigrate to the United States are doing so because they want a better life and are not coming here to commit crimes, but this is not true of everyone. The reason we have immigration laws is to make sure the people we allow into the country are not a danger to United States citizens.
One of the main jobs of our government is to protect its citizens. We have laws in place to protect our communities and to hold law breakers accountable for their actions and when we do not enforce these laws, we are putting everyone at risk, especially minority populations. A recent study shows that more than half of all Black and Hispanic Chicago residents have witnessed at least one shooting by age 40.
No one is suggesting that enforcing our immigration laws will completely stop the violence, but it certainly will have an impact and will ensure the violence we see on our streets is not coming from outside the country.
Illinois’ sanctuary state status also has an impact on our state’s finances. The budget allocated nearly $1 billion to go to programs and services for people who are in our state illegally.
We are not going to give the people who work with the developmentally disabled the $4 per hour wage increase they requested, but we are going to put hundreds of millions of dollars into services for people who are not legally supposed to be in the country.
And we are not going to extend the Invest in Kids program even though there are 22,000 students waiting for the opportunity to escape failing schools. We can’t extend this worthwhile program and help kids escape failing schools, but we are going to spend nearly $1 billion for illegal immigrants? Our tax dollars should be used to help Illinois citizens – not people who are here illegally.
Our state is not solving any problems by refusing to comply with federal immigration laws because what is needed is for Congress and the President to act at the national level. Nothing we do at the state level is going to solve this problem. All we are doing here in Illinois is putting our communities in danger and costing taxpayers hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.
It is time to ditch the sanctuary state moniker and stop making a serious problem even worse. It is also time for our leaders to put pressure on the federal government to make border security a reality. In short, we need leadership not more dangerous platitudes.