Mt. Vernon, IL—Mt. Vernon Mayor, John Lewis, gathered important information from recent meetings in Chicago with attendees comprised of other Mayors, Legislators, Police Chiefs, and States Attorneys. Information was obtained on many subjects including the Safe T Act. A topic of particular interest was the buses coming from Texas with immigrants who are seeking asylum from their native country.
“I personally talked with other Mayors that had buses sent to their community and was especially interested in how they were able to handle them and how things progressed,” Mayor Lewis commented. “These buses are just showing up in the communities, with little to no notice. Although most of the buses have arrived in suburbs in the northern part of our state, those buses could end up anywhere.”
The Governor’s Office of the State of Illinois said our state could see upwards of 10,000 or more asylum seekers being bused from Texas.
Lewis continued, “Having come from an agency that had plans for every possible event, I believe it would be best to have some sort of plan in place in case this occurs in our community. I fully understand all of the political arguments about what is transpiring at the border, and the Federal Government is the only one that can solve that issue, so we are left playing the hand we may have, not the one we wished we had.”
The bottom line is that Texas is bussing people to communities all over the United States. After talking with mayors from other communities in Illinois who are dealing with this issue, Lewis has found out that federal authorities have screened all of the people before they were admitted to seek asylum in our country.
“The mayors I spoke with have stated that these are human beings who are mostly fleeing from Venezuela, who are being used as pawns in a political argument. They have turned out to be very driven to assimilate into the American dream,” Lewis articulated. “Some even have various skill sets from the medical field, engineering, and the like.”
The meeting attendees were assured by the Governor’s Office that monies have been set aside to help communities with housing, medical and other needs.
“We will be reaching out to many of our partners such as the United Way of South Central Illinois and the American Red Cross, to name a few along with our medical and manufacturing partners to develop a plan in case a plan is needed,” Lewis concluded. “My mission is to make sure Mt. Vernon is prepared for an event like this so there will be no chaos and no interruptions in our daily lives. We need to pray that the Federal government will figure this issue out.”
At this time there is no confirmation that any asylum seekers will be bused or transported to Mt. Vernon. Planning is proactive on the part of the City of Mt. Vernon in case we do see an influx of people immigrating to our community.
Original source can be found here.
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