Your tax dollars!
The other day I told you about the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and how they were working with the radical Left and Unions to “organize” in Egypt while living off American taxpayer dollars, here.
Now, it appears that the state of Illinois (not unlike its neighbor Wisconsin) is broke and looking to cut its budget. Immigrant “SERVICES” are on the chopping block and the ICIRR is crying foul—-waaahhhh! They want to be sure to keep their millions coming from Illinois taxpayers.
So, they are now agitating at their website (I sure hope we aren’t going to see them drag out poor refugee pawns to protest like the immigrant agitators did in Washington State a week ago, here.) They want people to write and call the governor.
On Wednesday, February 16th, Governor Quinn presented a proposed state budget that cuts immigrant services by 74% over the budget two years ago, with a 56% cut proposed for next year alone. Refugee services are scheduled for a 69% cut next year.
Every Governor in Illinois from Governor Jim Edgar forward has supported increases in the Immigrant Services Line Item within the Illinois Department of Human Services. This line item is the only part of the State of Illinois budget that specifically assists immigrants to become full contributors in Illinois, with U.S. citizenship assistance; emergency food, healthcare, and domestic violence assistance to immigrant families in crisis; and economic development, English, and welcoming, and volunteerism programs.
This year the State proposes to slash the immigrant services line item 74%: from $8.6 million in FY10 to a proposed $2.5 million in FY12.
By the way, ICIRR notes that funding for the generic (genuine) poor was not cut.
Immigrant SERVICE agencies may go bankrupt, moans ICIRR. But here is my question, why do we need immigrant services geared to various ethnic groups in the first place? Or, is ICIRR (and its compatriots) afraid they will lose some of their funds that are used for political activism (maybe they won’t get to go to Egypt in September and meet their friends with the Muslim Brotherhood)?
With the proposed cuts some 11 small immigrant-serving agencies will collapse in bankruptcy, and another 34 immigrant service agencies will be crippled.
Then ICIRR has the audacity (gee, someone else from Illinois has that too) to make the claim that the high number of immigrants in Illinois (US Census showed a dramatic 32.5 increase since 2000 in the Hispanic population in Illinois) has helped the Illinois economy and kept it from collapsing as the population of the state declines and American born residents move elsewhere.
Josh Hoyt (agitator in chief at ICIRR) then throws in this line:
Immigrants are 50 percent more likely than native-born Illinoisians to start their own businesses.
Readers, that is because immigrants and refugees get special treatment through government grants and micro-loans with banks to set up businesses. Did you ever wonder how all those Somali trinket and food shops are popping up in places like Lewiston, ME while in the back room they send money abroad. You helped with their start-up funding. It is a lucrative business.
So then my question is this: IF IMMIGRANTS ADD SO MUCH TO THE ECONOMY OF ILLINOIS, WHY DO THEY NEED TAXPAYER FUNDED SERVICES SPECIALLY FOR THEM?
This isn’t about helping the poor, this is about getting your money for their political purposes.