Why are migrants coming to northern Illinois? Here’s what we know

On the Friday before Christmas, Elburn Police Chief Nick Sikora got a text from the village president: A busload of 38 asylum-seeking migrants had arrived from the U.S. border in Texas and were at the village’s Metra train station.

Sikora scrambled to greet them.

About 50 miles west of Chicago and the last stop on the Metra line into the nation’s third-largest city, Elburn wasn’t prepared for an influx of migrants, Sikora said. With a population of about 7,000 people, the village has no hotels, emergency shelters or public spaces for large, unplanned groups.

Their stay in town lasted about an hour before the next inbound train to Chicago arrived, Sikora said.

“They were on the bus until the train got there,” Sikora said. “They were not left to stand around but stayed on the bus until the train arrived, and the passengers all got off and went on the train to Chicago.”

Nevertheless, it’s a situation other communities in northern Illinois have experienced in recent weeks. Some places – even those that haven’t had migrant arrivals – have taken steps aimed at preventing them.

In Elburn, just days after the unexpected drop-off, a standing-room-only crowd showed up as village officials approved an ordinance that would impose fines on buses dropping off migrants in town. Similarly, municipalities in DeKalb, Kane, La Salle, McHenry and Will counties have taken steps to prevent unscheduled migrant arrivals in their jurisdictions.

Some have said that the ordinances are meant to be proactive, a chance to ensure responsible transportation for those likely unfamiliar with – and unprepared for – Midwest winters. Others have called such ordinances “unwelcoming,” fearing that regulations set a precedent for how communities treat immigrants.

“Obviously, we do not want to deal with them dropping passengers off at 1 a.m. and leaving them sitting in a small warming house at the Metra station with no restroom,” Sikora said. “We don’t have a full-service train station in Elburn, and that is a concern of ours.”

Why is this happening now? And what does it look like in communities across northern Illinois?

Why is this happening?

Under federal law, migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. are allowed to be in the country as their residency status is considered.

And buses carrying asylum-seekers heading from the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas to Chicago is not a new issue.

In September 2022, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott sent about 60 migrants on buses to Chicago, a self-proclaimed “sanctuary city,” Capital News Illinois reported. At the time, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, both Democrats, said the migrants were welcome.

Since 2022, more than 33,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have arrived in Chicago, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. Currently, about 15,000 migrants are living in 28 shelters, and Chicago is continually opening more. Many migrants have gone elsewhere or live with family and friends in the area. Chicago, like other cities, has offered bus tickets out of the city.

The burst of migrants seeking new lives in the U.S. in part was given the green light by the expiration of a pandemic-era law known as Title 42 authority. That law, meant to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, went into effect under former President Donald Trump’s administration in March 2020. It prohibited asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border from remaining in the country while their asylum status was pending.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in April 2022 that Title 42 would expire May 23, 2022.

Abbott’s administration has since authorized the busing and in some cases chartered flights of thousands of migrants from Texas to largely Democrat-run cities, including Chicago, Denver and New York.

Now, mayors of those cities have said they can’t properly meet the needs of such large influxes of people. Some leaders, including Pritzker, have called on President Joe Biden to help better regulate migrant transportation so resources such as housing, food, medical care and processing can be provided more efficiently.

Chicago passed an ordinance Dec. 13 noting that it would impound buses that did not give advance warning of their arrival to drop off migrants at designated landing zones in the city.

After Chicago’s ordinance was passed, buses reportedly have been dropping off migrants in suburban cities and in collar counties with Metra train lines of their own.

What does this have to do with towns outside Chicago?

The politically charged migrant crisis has left asylum-seekers and northern Illinois cities caught in the middle.

Whether or not migrants have arrived there, municipalities and township boards have spent the past month seeking to regulate unexpected arrivals.

In some places, that looks like hefty fines for bus drivers or transportation companies that don’t give advance notice of an arrival. Other regulations include allowing cities the power to impound buses found in violation of local laws.

Elburn’s approved ordinance requires a five-day notice from charter buses bringing migrants, with registration on the village’s website, Sikora said.

A divided DeKalb City Council on Jan. 8 approved a similar ordinance, which could see bus companies or drivers in violation slapped with fines of $1,000 per passenger. No large groups of migrant arrivals have been reported in DeKalb County as of early January, city officials said. DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes said the ordinance was meant to target a “transportation system abandoning people in the cold.” DeKalb Alderwoman Carolyn Zasada, however, called the regulations “unwelcoming.”

Crystal Lake is the most recent McHenry County municipality to pass an ordinance regulating migrant arrivals, joining Woodstock and McHenry in enacting fines to buses for dropping off migrants in town unexpectedly. Migrant arrivals were reported in Fox River Grove and Woodstock. The passengers were placed on trains to Chicago.

In Will County, Joliet, Channahon, Lockport and Wilmington each approved ordinances this month regulating unscheduled bus stops. The Manhattan Village Board’s approved ordinance imposes fines of $750 per passenger and provides for buses in violation to be impounded.

The Will County Emergency Management Agency is keeping track of confirmed bus arrivals carrying migrants, which authorities said started locally in November. Migrants are taken by bus to nearby Metra stations to continue to Chicago.

In the Illinois Valley, the Ottawa City Council on Tuesday adopted a policy regulating potential migrant arrivals. So far, no buses have arrived in La Salle County.

Although no Sauk Valley governing body has taken up an ordinance as of Friday, municipal leaders told Shaw Local News Network that discussions remain ongoing about the issue.

Are the drop-off ordinances legal?

Northwestern University law professor Nadav Shoked said new ordinances to regulate charter buses with migrants are “probably not” illegal.

“You can’t just block people from traveling,” Shoked said. “You can’t not allow people to travel between the states. There are constitutional issues. You cannot block people from being migrants.”

The ordinances, instead, seem to regulate manner of transportation, requiring stipulations on when and where drop-offs can occur, Shoked said.

Such regulations could make transportation for asylum-seekers more difficult, however, Shoked said.

“New York cities are making it very difficult, so the buses are stopping in New Jersey and taking the train or the ferry. That is the game here. Chicago adopted it, and the bus company starts dropping people off in the suburbs.

The issue for the suburban communities is how to address migrants’ well-being, the strain on social services or the congestion of buses, he said.

But Shoked said he believes there’s also an element of prejudice.

“It’s both a rational policy but also good old bias,” Shoked said. “Let’s not be naive about it. There is an element of prejudice.”

State Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, has sat on the Illinois Immigrant Impact Task Force since August 2022. The statewide bipartisan group is meant to review and recommend policy for immigrants and refugees in Illinois.

Keicher, whose 70th House District includes parts of DeKalb, Kane and McHenry counties, said he believes the ordinances seen across northern Illinois are communities’ ways of preparing.

“What they’re basically saying is if you haven’t given us the opportunity to put a plan in place and now we have to secure a hotel room, meals and transportation because you didn’t let us get ready, you’re going to bear part of the cost in the way of a fine,” Keicher said. “I haven’t seen anything that says the migrants aren’t welcome.”

Keicher said he believes Democrats, who hold the majority in Springfield, need to provide more financial support.

Pritzker’s administration has allocated more than $500 million to set up emergency shelters and resources in Chicago since migrants began arriving in 2022, Capital News Illinois reported. In November, Pritzker announced that another $160 million would be reallocated to create more Chicago shelters, provide case management for asylum-seekers and build an intake center, CNI reported.

What about the people?

For some immigrant advocacy groups, regulating when and how migrants can arrive in northern Illinois communities is bias.

The Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project in Bolingbrook has spoken out against policies or ordinances from local governments.

“While we understand that localities are figuring out how to address bus arrivals, without the help of a statewide coordinated response and the support of the federal government, shutting down our communities and denying essential aid to migrant children and parents is never the answer nor the solution,” said Elizabeth Cervantes, co-founder and director of organizing for the project.

The agency has joined other organizations, faith leaders and volunteers to help migrant families arriving in Illinois with access to food, shelter and other resources since mid-2022, Cervantes said.

Brandon Lee of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights based in Chicago said he believes the migrant issue has sowed division and conflict between Chicago and the rest of the state.

“Nobody deserves to be told to get off a bus on the side of a road in the middle of winter in Illinois,” Lee said.

Lee said he believes it should be up to the federal government or the state to provide better guidance on regulating transportation of migrants seeking asylum.

Outside of ordinances

Outside of municipal ordinances and regulated bus stops, some in northern Illinois communities have responded in other ways to migrant arrivals.

At a Jan. 4 Elburn Chamber of Commerce meeting, the pastor of Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Elburn offered the parish hall facility for short-term shelter, Sikora said. The church’s pastor declined to comment for this story.

Town and Country Library Director Megan Shumaker also reached out to Village President Jeff Walter to offer the library for shelter during normal business hours.

DeKalb city staff said they’ve made verbal preparations in the event migrant passengers arrive without arrangements for food or shelter.

Woodstock, which had a bus drop off passengers Dec. 30 and subsequently passed an ordinance Jan. 2 to deter other migrant-carrying bus arrivals, has mobilized to provide resources in case asylum-seekers arrive in McHenry County.

Woodstock City Council member Melissa McMahon coordinated with Rob Mutert of the social service nonprofit Warp Corps and Tom Wilson, retired owner of MBI in Woodstock – which also operates MBI Cares philanthropy – to collect resources and pack backpacks with clothing and hygiene supplies.

McHenry County Emergency Management Agency Director David Christensen confirmed that there are verbal agreements in place with transportation companies in case migrants arrive away from a Metra station.

McMahon said 40 warm clothing packages were sent to Harvard, and coats have been sent to Elgin.

Mutert said Warp Corps has received a lot of donations in the past couple of weeks.

“The outpouring of support has been incredible,” Mutert said.

On the day of the drop-off, Wilson came by to open the train station to give passengers a chance to warm up and use the restroom.

McMahon said the city would open the train depot should another migrant arrival happen after the last train to Chicago for the day has departed.

Wilson has allocated space in the MBI building in Woodstock for storing donations. He stressed that the project goes beyond just helping asylum-seekers and Woodstock.

“It’s quite a movement,” Wilson said.

Shaw Local News Network reporters Megann Horstead, Claire O’Brien and Felix Sarver contributed to this story.