(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The head of the Cook County Board says it may take some decisive state action if we want to see any suburbs offering to help Chicago house and care for the migrants who keep arriving.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said right now the City of Chicago and county government are doing what they can as busloads of asylum seekers arrive from Texas and elsewhere.
Chicago has been bearing the weight of housing the continually arriving migrants almost alone in Illinois. Cook County provides healthcare for the new arrivals, but County Board President Toni Preckwinkle acknowledges no other Chicago area municipality has offered to provide migrant shelters. She said there's been no financial support.
But Preckwinkle is not criticizing. She said it's a matter of resources. She also said Immigration is a federal responsibility and Washington should provide funding to help local governments, but in the absence of federal money, she said the state should do more.
"In my view, this is a sanctuary state. We have to step up as a state and provide more resources to the City of Chicago to do this work," Preckwinkle added.
"It would also be helpful if the state provided more resources so that other local governments might be willing to do the same."
Does Preckwinkle believe some suburbs would step up to help if state funds were provided? Yes, she said, but she also points to the recent occurrence in Joliet where a local agency was given money for migrant housing, but there was political opposition in the city and the money was sent back, so she said "it's hard to know."
Preckwinkle said she would hope an attitude of we're all in this together would eventually prevail.
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