Lake County Gazette

Lake County resident Mike Oster is calling out politicians for not weighing the costs of being a sanctuary state. 

“Illinois with sky-high taxes is going to spend billions on healthcare for Illegals due to open borders. Billions more on social services. That is just Illinois. It is estimated that there are currently 60 million immigrants living in the US,” Oster said on Facebook. “We have 325 million citizens in the USA 150 million citizen voters. Within 10 years, the 60 million will become 100 million. There are an estimated 3 billion that would immigrate if they could. That would make us the most populous nation on earth.” 

According to his Facebook account, Oster is an alum of Marmion Academy, Sacred Heart Military Academy, Brother Rice High School, and Loyola University Chicago.

“I am for the most generous immigrant policy in the world. It is 2.2 million immigrants legally coming here. What is occurring is an additional 2.5-5 million illegal immigrants. That number is unsustainable for social services and Emergency Medical Services. Families are living in police stations,” Oster added. “Is the financial help for homeless or veterans even close to $1 billion? Many of those homeless are veterans.” 

Illinois is a high-tax state. The state's property tax burden alone has risen by 76% since 1990 and has grown by more than three times that of median household incomes, according to Illinois Policy. The state’s property tax rate is the second highest in the nation after New Jersey. Around $1 billion of this year’s state budget has been earmarked only for people living in the country illegally.

Despite the emergency declaration over the immigrants streaming into Chicago issued in successor Lori Lightfoot’s final days in office, new Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has maintained a pro-immigrant stance, Chicago City Wire reported. 

"Chicago has always been a place that immigrants, migrants and refugees have called home,” Johnson’s campaign website reads. “It is a place where migrants and refugees from all over the world – from the Jim Crow South to the furthest reaches of the globe – have come to build lives and contribute to everything that makes our city great."

Due to the federal government’s “open borders” policy – which has only gotten worse after Act 42 expired – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been busing thousands of people living in the country illegally to Chicago. Lightfoot sent a charged letter to Abbott on April 30, requesting he not send any more immigrants to the city. Abbott and Texas have been regularly busing immigrants to “sanctuary cities” such as Chicago, where those who have entered the country illegally are provided with the status of ordinary citizens. 

“Since we began responding to the arrival of migrants sent by your delegation in August 2022, we have shouldered the responsibility of caring for more than 8,000 men, women, and children with no resources of their own,” Lightfoot said in her letter to Abbott. 

Lightfoot added that she was “sympathetic” to Texas's situation. 

“Though I am sympathetic to the significant challenges that border cities face, this situation is completely untenable. The national immigration problem will not be solved by passing on the responsibility to other cities.”