Governor JB Pritzker’s illegal immigrant welfare policies have exhausted state resources and helped create the largest migrant crisis in the Midwest. The Governor’s financial gimmicks and loopholes make it impossible to know exactly how many taxpayer dollars he has spent on the migrant crisis, but we have so far tracked $1 billion in spending on illegals in the Governor’s various proposals! That amount, $1 billion, almost exactly matches the nearly $1 billion tax hike on Illinois families that Governor Pritzker proposed in his state budget address a couple weeks ago.
Are the two related?
Let there be no doubt that his tax hikes on working people will underwrite the costs of this illegal immigrant mess. How much is being spent? The people of Illinois deserve to know just how much the total tab for this crisis really is. That is why Senator Rose cosponsored legislation last week to give Illinois taxpayers much-needed transparency on this illegal immigrant crisis that Governor Pritzker has created. Senate Bill 3170 would require the Illinois Department of Human Services to work with relevant State agencies, to prepare an annual report to the General Assembly identifying all state spending on services and resources for migrants.
The report is required to include the following information concerning expenditures:
- Total amount spent on illegal immigrant and asylum-seeking populations in the previous fiscal year.
- Specific appropriations authorizing the spending.
- Any transfers among line-item appropriations associated with illegal immigrant and asylum-seeking populations.
- Total number of families or individuals impacted by each service or resource.
- Funding sources of the service or resource.
- Contracts awarded to organizations providing services or resources in various categories such as emergency shelter, food, health screenings, legal services, job readiness support, enrollment in public schools, long-term housing, mental health assessments, and other related spending.
Further, the legislation requires the Governor to include a detailed accounting of all proposed spending on illegal immigrant populations in future state budgets, providing an additional layer of transparency to the people of Illinois.
Bottom line, according to Senator Rose, the people of Illinois deserve to know how much of their tax dollars are being spent on illegal immigrant services, especially when the Governor is trying to raise their taxes by $1 billion.
You can watch the press conference discussing this new legislation HERE. Join us in saying NO to Governor Pritzker’s tax hikes by signing HERE.