Daily Herald opinion: State must act where federal government has failed to address migrant influx

Each day, it seems, another suburb takes up the thorny issue: What is a town to do when busloads of migrants arrive in the bitter cold from Texas without notice and, at times, no way to get to Chicago to be processed?

In Aurora, the deputy mayor had to buy train tickets for asylum-seeking migrants when a bus driver told his passengers — many unprepared for the 29-degree weather — to get off at the transportation center without the means to move on. In Schaumburg, officials posted signs. In Palatine, police escorted a bus beyond its borders.

A growing number of towns have enacted regulations prohibiting drop-offs without notice and setting stiff penalties for bus companies that break the rules.

And so it goes in the deeply disturbing and highly inappropriate game of immigration Whac-A-Mole originated by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott amid an appalling lack of meaningful border solutions by the Biden administration, previous administrations and Congress.

It is long past time for the federal government to deal with the issues at the heart of the immigration crisis. But in the meantime, local communities need help managing a situation that they did not create and have no resources to address. That help can only come from the state. Illinois government must step in to provide urgent relief for a matter that grows more dire each day as the area is hit by snow and forecasts put next week’s temperatures below zero.

The 103rd General Assembly convenes in Springfield next week. The state has already committed millions of dollars to help, but money is not the only issue here. Legislators from across the state and across political parties need to come together to create consistent guidelines on how to handle the massive influx of migrants. They need a better coordinated statewide approach, one that does not leave tiny towns like Elburn to grapple with matters on their own.

And they need to do so quickly, with a speed and urgency often lacking in Springfield.

More than 30,000 migrants have already arrived in Chicago by bus, and another 4,000-plus by plane. As WBEZ reported Tuesday, the city’s “landing zone” is so overwhelmed that migrants are spending days aboard buses with little food and dwindling shelter options.

Since last month, buses trying to skirt new restrictions in Chicago have turned suburban train platforms and other sites into ill-prepared way stations for families who have already endured incredible hardships.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker spelled out his concerns in a letter to President Joe Biden this fall: "The federal government's lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois."

Three months later, the situation remains untenable — both for the cold, confused masses being dropped off like unwanted cargo and the overwhelmed city and suburbs.

The piecemeal approach is not working, and solutions from Washington will not come in time to prevent chaos from turning into tragedy. The state must act. And it must do so now.