Community Voices: ‘We all came from somewhere’

A constituent recently asked me what local authorities are doing about the immigration issue our nation is dealing with. My reply was, “What are we to do?”

I added that, in my opinion, this issue is best left to the state and federal authorities because, quite frankly, our local governments do not have the resources to deal with that issue.

I’ve always known people in the Sauk Valley region to be faith-centered, family oriented, hard workers. Are we anything else? It doesn’t matter where we came from; we all came from somewhere. What matters is that we are working to provide for our families and to make our communities a great place to live, work and play.

We all want what is best for ourselves, our families, and our community. We don’t live in Chicago, Los Angeles or New York. The problems they are experiencing are not the problems we are experiencing. We are experiencing inflation, low housing inventory, and uncertainty about what the state will do with a $3.2 billion deficit looming over its 2025-26 fiscal year budget.

The bigger question is, will that deficit mean less funding for education, social services and other programs that the state funds? Right now, that question is a more significant concern to many in the Sauk Valley region than the topic of immigration is.

Here at home, across the Sauk Valley region, your local, township and county governments are working to keep your property taxes low by controlling pension costs, maintaining public infrastructure, redeveloping Brownfield properties for future uses, investing in our youths, and building a future that will provide opportunities for everyone. As an elected official, these are the things that are important to me. Regarding the other topic, I’m a descendant of an immigrant, and I’ll tell you how that came to be.

My mother told me stories about the stresses and strains she experienced when she moved to Sterling in 1959. Before coming to Sterling, my mom had not moved from a foreign country to America. But for those of us who remember back in the day, our country was once divided by what was known as the Mason-Dixon line. On either side of this line were two different worlds. Having lived south of this line and having moved north of it, by definition, made my dear mother an immigrant.

My dad was a Sterling kid who joined the U.S. Army and ended up in Huntsville, Alabama, at the Redstone Arsenal. He met my mother, they dated, fell in love, married, and he brought her to Sterling when his enlistment ended in the summer of 1959.

Upon his return, he took a job at Northwestern Steel and Wire, and my mother struck out to find her path in life. Sterling was a world away from her former home in Alabama, and it took a great deal of courage for her to make a life for herself in Northern Illinois, but she did it.

My mother made friends, sold Avon, was a Central grade school PTA mom, and could sew. She was a seamstress – a skill her mother taught her as a child.

Neighborhood moms soon discovered her sewing skills and would bring her their families’ clothes for minor repairs. She soon gained a reputation around town for being a darn good seamstress and eventually took a job at Kline’s Department Store, where her specialty was wedding dresses.

By the mid-1970s, some 15 years after moving to Sterling, my mother had gone from being new to the area to being the mother of five children, an involved member of the community, and a sought-after seamstress who made many women happy – beautiful brides with the wedding dresses she made for them.

As a teenager, my mother made her way from Alabama to Sterling and in her lifetime, she had become successful in many ways. She was pretty proud of herself for having done that. I am proud of her resolve and courage to make herself the best person she could be after leaving one world to live in another that was so different to her back then.

My mother was one of thousands who immigrated to the Sauk Valley region during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. I would find it easy to believe that as many as 99% of us living in the Sauk Valley region are descendants of these immigrants and proudly share that information with anyone who asks.

For 200 years, people in the Sauk Valley region have worked to build a future for their families and communities, and we will continue to do so for another 200 years because the Sauk Valley region has been and will remain a beacon of hope for those who seek a better life for themselves and their families.

Wanting to make our communities a great place for everyone is reason enough to welcome the next seamstress, the next steelworker, the next PTA mom, and the many others who want to be a part of our communities and who will work to help make a better life for everyone across the Sauk Valley region.

We all came from somewhere. Making the most of it wherever we end up counts the most in life, especially for everyone in the Sauk Valley region.

Jim Wise is a member of the Sterling City Council.