McHenry Times

Critics are lining up against the politicians who brought the border crisis to Illinois by allowing for sanctuary status. 

“I have a real problem with what is going on in America,” Jack Shields, a McHenry County business owner, said on Facebook. “The open borders are an issue, a real bad issue. We got exactly what we voted for, especially in the City of Chicago. Chicago has claimed always that it was a ‘Sanctuary City’ for the immigrants, but now that these people are being sent here, it's a National emergency. We can't have it both ways, we are all gung ho until it is in our front yards. We have a prime example of the 2 faced liars that our elected officials really are, especially in Illinois. Fred Flintstone, Betelgeuse, Madigan, all of them. Some are just worse than others, some just never get caught in their façade of complete bullshit." 

Shield suggested there should be an "enforceable process and expectation, just like every other country in the world, for people who come here to follow." 

“I have nothing against anyone who wants to come to the United States of America to EARN and ENJOY a better life. I have a serious problem if you want to come and live on handouts," he said. "Instead, we are taking these people and using them as pawns so some can say 'I told you so.' That is just as wrong as the person who crosses our borders illegally.”

Shields' comments come after the City of Chicago made an emergency declaration on the matter. The emergency declaration notes “the City's resources now stretched to the breaking point, extraordinary measures are necessary.” The declaration points to waves of illegal immigrants entering the city “by various means, including on airplanes, by bus and on foot.” The declaration notes "a shortage of available space, existing facilities are full, newly created facilities are full, and hundreds of migrants are now temporarily sheltering in police stations.”

In a press release, the City of Chicago called out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott by name. 

“Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot issued an emergency declaration in response to the surge of new arrivals since last month, with large numbers of people, mostly families, arriving in Chicago and following the arrival today of 48 individuals and families inhumanely bussed to Chicago by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Since August 2022, the City has coordinated a multi-departmental, city-wide strategy in partnership with the State and Cook County for receiving and providing emergency care for over 8,000 new arrivals,” the press release reads.

The move comes as Title 42, a federal policy limiting entries at the border expired on May 11.

Abbott lampooned Lightfoot’s stance on the issue. 

“As the mayor of a self-declared sanctuary city, it is ironic to hear you complain about Chicago’s struggle to deal with a few thousand illegal immigrants, which is a fraction of the record-high numbers we deal with in Texas on a regular basis. Texas border towns like Eagle Pass, Brownsville, and Laredo—and even bigger cities like El Paso—cannot handle the flood of illegal immigrants rushing across our southern border,” Abbott said in a letter, according to Chicago City Wire. “With Title 42 expulsions set to end next week, the federal government has estimated that we could have up to 13,000 illegal immigrants cross the U.S.–Mexico border every single day. Some reports indicate that there are nearly 35,000 waiting to cross into El Paso as soon as Title 42 expulsions are no longer in effect. If Chicago can’t deal with 8,000 in less than a year, how are small Texas border communities supposed to manage 13,000 in just one day?”