Over the holiday weekend, officials in an Illinois county displayed signs along exits on Interstate 55, explicitly conveying that migrant buses were unwelcome in the area. This action reflects a growing trend as more Chicago suburbs take measures to forestall the overflow of immigrants from the city into their towns.
Grundy County, having recently declared itself a “non-sanctuary county for immigration,” installed two digital signs along I-55’s northbound exits by Dwight and Gardner. The signs explicitly read, “NO MIGRANT BUSES THIS EXIT.”
Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley stated to the Chicago Tribune that the signs were erected in response to reports of buses depositing asylum-seekers in other nearby communities.
“We wanted to get us through the holiday weekend so we didn’t run into the unfortunate circumstances of having these people dropped in rural Grundy County with no place to go,” Briley said.
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The sheriff clarified that no buses had stopped in the county, and the signs had already been taken down. Additionally, there are no plans to reinstall them.
He mentioned that there was an emergency plan in place to transport migrants to Joliet if any happened to arrive in Grundy County. In such cases, Joliet police and Will County emergency management would collaborate to guide migrants onto trains headed for Chicago.
“If someone got lost or thought by mistake that this was Chicago, those signs were a directory,” Grundy County State’s Attorney Russell Baker said. “We thought the signs could persuade bus drivers, if lost, to keep going on I-55 to places equipped to handle [migrants].”
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Kankakee officials reported that four days before Christmas, a bus delivered 30 to 40 migrants to a gas station around 4:30 a.m. Three hours later, police arrived to find individuals wrapped in blankets. Some remained at the gas station, while others were observed walking along the highway.
“The passengers, hailing from Venezuela, were left without money, food, adequate clothing, and were under the impression that they had reached their destination,” the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
This marks the most recent occurrence of immigrants entering Chicago suburbs. In recent weeks, towns and villages such as Naperville, Aurora, Fox River Grove, Elmhurst, and Cicero have experienced the arrival of busloads of migrants.
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Several suburbs are taking a stand against the buses, issuing threats of fines or impoundment if they attempt to discharge homeless immigrants. Schaumburg and Elk Grove Village have enacted ordinances to prohibit the housing of illegal immigrants in hotels. At the same time, Oak Park is evicting 150 immigrants residing in the town’s hotel and YMCA.
Grundy County passed its “non-sanctuary” status resolution two weeks ago. This resolution aims to rededicate the county’s “limited resources” to needy residents. This includes seniors, veterans, homeless individuals, and those living below the poverty line.
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