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Chicago has set aside an additional $150 million to help shelter
and care for the influx of noncitizen arrivals. The state
recently announced it will be contributing another $160 million
in taxpayer funds for services.
On Tuesday, after 25 more buses arrived over the weekend, Gov.
J.B. Pritzker announced that lawmakers may vote on increased
funding when they return.
"I want to ensure we are doing everything we can. Obviously,
those will be parts of a budget discussion with the General
Assembly," Pritzker said. "We have made it available to the
General Assembly to vote on if they wanted to have a
supplemental [appropriation] to provide dollars for this."
In October, Pritzker shot down the idea of a supplemental
appropriation to the crisis and said he has been diverting money
from state programs to cover extra costs.
"We have taken some of the programs that have pre-existed the
crisis and adjusted them to help with the migrant crisis,"
Pritzker said last month. "Let me give you one example, our
rental assistance program, we have provided some of that rental
assistance money, which wasn't originally intended to be about
asylum seekers, for this challenge."
Aside from the tens of millions of dollars for housing migrants,
the state budget has $550 million in taxpayer subsidies for the
health care of migrants over 65.
Some state legislators have weighed in on the situation and have
blamed Pritzker for letting the spending spin out of control.
"The governor is on a spending spree. He is allowed to move
double the amount of money than anybody in the previous history,
and this will put more pressure on taxpayers," state Rep. Brad
Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, told The Center Square. "They will
argue that revenues are increasing, but at some point in time,
there is a tipping point."
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