Western Springs Village President Heidi Rudolph (L) once advocated for illegal aliens to come to the U.S. Now she says they can only stop in the village she runs if they plan to leave. | Practicing Law Institute/Facebook
Western Springs Village President Heidi Rudolph (L) once advocated for illegal aliens to come to the U.S. Now she says they can only stop in the village she runs if they plan to leave. | Practicing Law Institute/Facebook
Western Springs Village President Heidi Rudolph announced Friday that illegal aliens are welcome to come to the town-- provided they are just passing through, boarding trains to the City of Chicago.
"Should buses of migrants arrive in Western Springs we are prepared to support their efforts to safely and efficiently board Chicago-bound trains," Rudolph said. "At this time, the Village has no plans to restrict the ability of the migrants to pass through Western Springs."
Rudolph, a Democrat, said the village "has been monitoring the arrival of buses of asylum- seeking migrants in many neighboring towns in DuPage County" but that Western Springs isn't passing an ordinance to regulate them, like nearby Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills have.
Hinsdale residents reported that some of the illegal aliens dropped in the village downtown were wearing electronic-monitoring ankle bracelets, given to criminals awaiting trial.
Nearly 100 buses have dropped more than 3,500 illegal aliens in DuPage County suburbs since mid-December, according to the DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which has been tracking them.
"No human is illegal"
Rudolph, who was appointed to her post last April after the death of village president Alice Gallagher, has been a longtime public advocate of so-called "sanctuary" policies in Illinois and Chicago, which promised illegal aliens they would be "welcomed" here.
"Sanctuary" policies bar local police from turning over illegal aliens who commit crimes to federal immigration authorities for potential deportation.
In March 2017, as then-President Donald Trump decried how many illegal aliens were crossing into the U.S and advocated for a border wall, Rudolph posted a sign in the yard of her Western Springs home declaring "no human is illegal."
She then posted a picture of her yard sign, which also stated that "black lives matter," "science is real" and "women's rights are human rights," on Facebook, which she said "a local friend designed."
"They are getting rave reviews," she commented on her own Facebook post, stating that it is "impossible to dispute or refute any of the statements" on her sign.
Rudolph has since removed the pro-"sanctuary" sign from her yard.
Rudolph, 59, is an executive with CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate broker, in Chicago. She previously worked in legal operations consulting for Morae Global, AegisAdvantage, Sara Lee, Sears Holdings and Andersen Consulting.
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