Illinois House speaker assembles lawmakers to recommend help for migrant crisis

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The speaker of the Illinois House on Wednesday assembled a group of lawmakers to recommend ways to handle the crisis facing Chicago and other parts of the state from the influx of migrants.

Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a Hillside Democrat, named Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz of Glenview to lead the panel of nine House Democrats in the “New Arrivals Working Group.”

About 38,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago — and tens of thousands more in Democratic-led cities such as New York and Denver — over the past 18 months as residents of central American countries cross the border to seek asylum in the U.S. They come on buses largely at the behest of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who said he is lifting the burden from small border towns in his state.

“The recent influx of migrants into our state provides challenges and opportunities that require thoughtful engagement and consensus building,” Welch said in a statement in which he called the assembled lawmakers “a diverse team with strong, relevant backgrounds ready to act as needed.”

Republicans have different ideas about solving the crisis. One group of GOP senators and House members said Tuesday they plan a package of legislation in response to the situation. It would include a repeal of the state’s sanctuary status that prioritizes welcoming migrants and a reversal of the TRUST Act, a 2017 law that protects undocumented immigrants from federal “harassment,” prohibiting their being held in local jails on federal detainers and keeping local police agencies from communicating with federal immigration authorities.