West Cook News

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is facing rising criticism from GOP lawmakers over the state’s price tag for health care and other services now being provided to noncitizen immigrants.

Pritzker and the Illinois Immigrant Impact Task Force have issued a report identifying issues currently affecting immigrant and refugee communities, a recent WFIW news release said. The report contained recommendations to help the communities by improving access to services including citizenship assistance, education access, business development, immigration detention, discrimination prevention, COVID-19 relief, language access programs, and others.

“To make sure that we were providing the services necessary,” Pritzker said in the release. “We’re talking about shelter, we’re talking about food, we’re talking about health care.”

Since August, the state has provided $240 million for migrants arriving from places such as Texas, Pritzker said. But some Illinois Republican lawmakers are warning that supplying health care and other services to noncitizen immigrants will strain the state's health care system and overall budget.

Illinois state Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) noted that Illinois is the only state in the nation that offers full health care coverage for noncitizen immigrants age 42 and older.

"When they’re crossing the border and they realize they have health conditions, they know there is one state to come to when you have health issues," he said in the WFIW release.

With Title 42 expected to to be lifted next week, Syerson believes that more migrants will be heading to Illinois. He commented that the burden should not fall on Illinois taxpayers alone and that medical costs should be covered by federal taxes.

“If they are going to keep the border open, then they should be paying for those costs, not asking Illinois taxpayers to put aside programs for the disabled, seniors and our own residents to provide high quality health care for people from other countries,” he said.

The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services recently reported that by 2024 there will be 108,000 additional noncitizen immigrants in the state needing care, which will cost Illinois approximately $1 billion.