(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Former Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas has some advice for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker: Start turning migrant buses around.
“The governor has got to use his executive authority to really control the influx of migrants,” Vallas told WBBM Newsradio.
Vallas’s comments about the migrant crisis came as he was interviewed for the latest episode of the Looped In: Chicago podcast, about a proposal to raise the city’s real-estate transfer tax. During the discussion, Chicago’s “Sanctuary City” status came up. Some see it as the reason Republican governors along the US Southern Border, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, are sending asylum seekers here.
Vallas said Pritzker could help the overwhelmed city of Chicago by sending a message.
“It’s important that the governor step up to the plate and really put a halt to it,” he said. “You turn some buses back, or you come in and process people and return them to the point of origin. You do that a couple of times, they’re not going to be flooding the city anymore.”
Vallas ran for governor as a Democrat in the early-2000s and more recently was defeated by Brandon Johnson in the 2023 mayoral race. He currently is an adviser to the Illinois Policy Institute, which has been identified as a think tank with conservative or libertarian leanings.
Vallas said he’s not anti-immigration and considers himself a lifelong Democrat, but he faults Chicago leaders for “leading with our chins” on the issue.
That’s where Pritzker could help, he said, by taking charge and even opening up National Guard bases to shelter or process migrants.
“It’s time to get in the game. I think those are things the governor’s going to have to do because clearly the city, they don’t know what they’re doing,” Vallas said.
A spokesperson for Gov. Pritzker did not respond to a request for comment. On Thursday, Pritzker said he was freeing up $160 million in state funds to help Chicago deal with the migrant crisis.
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