The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) joined a broad coalition of faith, labor, law enforcement, and other leaders in thanking legislators for a productive legislative session.
This session immigrant leaders were successful in passing a Medicaid package that maintains health coverage for all low-income children regardless of their immigration status; secured $1 million in funding to engage parents in the education of children through the Parent Mentor Program for Early Childhood Development, passed the Anti-Islamophobia Resolution and Asian American Employment Plans, successfully defended the immigration integration line in the Illinois budget, to promote citizenship and provide equal access to health and safety-net services for immigrant communities, and passed a powerful House Resolution celebrating and affirming Illinois’s role as a national leader on citizenship. ICIRR also lived to fight another day on SB1064, the bill to ban private immigration detention centers in Illinois.
Despite unprecedented lobbying from the Corrections Corporation of America, the world’s largest private prison company, advocates were able to pass SB1064 out of the Senate and through the House Executive Committee this session. A full House floor vote was called today but failed by 3 votes – 57 yes votes, 58 no votes and 2 present.
“This was a David and Goliath fight, and David emerged today to fight another day,” said Lawrence Benito, ICIRR’s Executive Director and CEO. “Sadly, our bi-partisan coalition broke down at the last moment. In the end, though we were able to add new Republican votes, many Democrats showed deep disrespect for the immigrant families in their own districts.”
Notably, State Representative Anthony DeLuca, who represents the suburb of Crete, Illinois, voted in favor of the bill, saying “he was moved by the local residents of Crete who oppose the detention center.” He joined Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. who also represents Crete, in his opposition to the detention center. For more information, visit www.icirr.org.
