DEKALB, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --The migrant crisis has now reached far beyond Chicago to DeKalb, among other places, where the city council is expected to pass an ordinance holding bus companies accountable for dropping off migrants.
DeKalb is planning to follow the lead of other cities and towns that plan to impose fines and impound busses that drop off migrants unannounced.
DeKalb has not had any busses arrive, according to the DeKalb County Chronicle. However, Mayor Cohen Barnes noted the incident in Kankakee when a bus dropped off migrants at a truck stop and they were told they were in Chicago.
Police found them walking along the interstate.
“This ordinance is about punishing the bus companies that would allow something like that to happen,” Barnes said Thursday. “How in the world can you take a busload of people, people families and dump them like cargo along the side of the road? In my eyes, we need to go after them. We need to go after them with all the resources that we possibly have.”
Alderwoman Carolyn Zasada voted against moving the ordinance forward.
“This is alienating, its isolating and it’s divisive," she said. “It's an attempt to avoid this perceived burden of immigrants on the community but what its doing is telling people they’re not welcome. It's telling people that we are not a community of belonging.”
The vote was 5-1. A final vote takes place on Monday.
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