Your turn: Migrants welcome in Winnebago County, bills for housing, health care are not

State Representative Maurice West wrote an editorial in the Register Star accusing the Winnebago County Board of telling immigrants they are unwelcome; by symbolically hanging a “Keep Out” sign on the county.

That is not true.

The County Board members who voted in favor of the resolution limiting the use of tax dollars to support migrants are not anti-immigrant. Many of us have family members who are immigrants.

Representative West accused the County Board of operating “based on partisan politics and fear." That is a mischaracterization of our motives.

The conversation prior to our vote was primarily on the practical aspects of accepting large groups of migrants into our county, but the different political philosophies related to the migrant issue were also debated and revealed in the vote.

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On the practical side, creating government supported migrant shelters is an enormous logistical problem.

From what I read in the news, the City of Chicago is struggling.

According to a WTTW news report, last year Chicago spent $138 million dollars caring for migrants, $59 million of that cost came directly from Chicago taxpayers. The remainder was funded by the state and federal government.

Chicago is dealing with evicting migrants from shelters who have not found a way to become self-sufficient since arriving in the city.

It is reported they are dealing with outbreaks of measles and tuberculosis in the migrant shelters, and there is no end in sight to the financial burden caused by the inflow of migrants.

Those are not opinions formed from fear, those are facts.

Winnebago County is not prepared to take on those issues.

We have a limited supply of housing for our current residents. There is no readily available location to create migrant shelters and we can’t afford to absorb the long term costs associated with becoming a refuge location for migrants.

Sure, the state is offering money to open doors, but when that money runs out, the taxpayers of Winnebago County would be footing the bill.

Secondly, I acknowledge there is a significant political divide among board members on the issue of migrants. That difference is centered on the use of tax dollars supporting people from other countries who wish to relocate in Illinois.

I have a friend who is self-employed. He is experiencing a health crisis and is concerned about getting proper medical care because he has no health insurance. He told me he can’t afford it.

Yet Illinois spent over $1 billion last year on medical care for undocumented immigrants. Do you think citizens of our state should be subsidizing care for citizens from other countries when our own citizens have needs?

That is the basis of the partisan divide on this issue.

In a vote along party lines, all of the Republicans on the board voted to support an amendment by board member John Sweeney stating Winnebago County will not spend tax dollars from any source to create migrant shelters, nor to provide welfare support to the migrants filling those shelters.

Citizens of Winnebago County should make their feelings known to your state legislators.

Do you want your tax dollars used to provide welfare for citizens of other counties or should that money be used to meet the needs of the citizens of Illinois?

Immigrants are welcome here. Those citizens of Winnebago County who wish to provide financial support to immigrants are still free to do so.

The action of Republicans on the county board was not anti-immigrant. It was about the responsible use of tax dollars.

Paul Arena is a Winnebago County Board Member and Republican caucus chairman.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: Migrants welcome, housing, health care costs are not