The issue of whether and how to deal with the demands of an anticipated influx of immigrants is a hot topic in numerous counties around the state outside of northeastern Illinois.

For the second time in just over a month, the Woodford County Public Safety Committee has forwarded to the County Board a resolution intended to make Woodford County a non-sanctuary site for any arriving immigrants.   

At the April County Board meeting, 16 people spoke during public comment, all but two against the resolution. The local chapter of the ACLU also voiced its opposition to the resolution.  

When the April consent agenda came up for a vote, board member Dave Meinhold pulled the non-sanctuary resolution from it, saying the full County Board needed to discuss the issue publicly. Following that public discussion, board members voted to return the issue to the Public Safety Committee for further discussion, due largely to the sheer amount of detail any such plan requires prior to implementation. 

The non-sanctuary resolution idea first came up for discussion in March, when County Board member Zach Ferris addressed the Public Safety Committee. The issue of whether and how to deal with the demands of an anticipated influx of immigrants is a hot topic in numerous counties around the state outside of northeastern Illinois.  

Grundy and La Salle counties declared themselves non-sanctuaries earlier this year, citing the economic burdens and possible public safety challenges. In January, the McLean County Board rejected a non-binding resolution stating that the county would not use taxpayer funds to provide services for immigrants. In April, the Marshall County Board tabled a similar resolution, opting to study the issue further.  

Ferris, a Republican, as are all members of the Woodford County Board, said at the April board meeting that the state and the country “have a huge migrant crisis.”

Other Illinois cities, he said, “don’t have facilities, they don’t have shelters, they don’t have resources to house all these migrants that are coming in through our southern border.” 

Illinois is legally a sanctuary state, a status established in 2017 under then-governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican. Throughout the ongoing discussion over how to deal with a possible influx of immigrants, various Woodford County officials have stressed that care and planning needs to be done to assure that no laws are broken by law enforcement in dealing with immigrants, so that no lawsuits are engendered. 

The May 13 Woodford public safety committee meeting was streamed on the internet via Zoom. During public comment, two people spoke to the non-sanctuary resolution, one in favor of it, the other opposed.  

Public Safety committee chairman Blake Parsons stressed the need to be proactive on the immigrant issue, saying, “The time to plan and have a course of action for an emergency issue is not after it happens.” 

Parsons said Woodford County State’s Attorney Greg Minger will be tasked with advising county officials on the legal requirements for any resolution, to conform with state law. 

Speaking to WMDB News after the meeting, Parsons suggested a primary concern is a lack of financial resources.  

“There’s nothing that Woodford County can do for illegal immigrants that show up en masse to house them long term, or to educate them,” he said.  

The issue now returns to the Woodford County Board for discussion and an expected decision at their next meeting, which was scheduled for Tuesday, May 21. Results of that vote were unavailable as of press time.