South Cook News

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is defending his decision to make healthcare benefits available to undocumented immigrants.

"We save money when we invest in health care for undocumented immigrants," Pritzker said, according to an article by NewsChannel 20. "What happens if they don't get health care, basic health care, they end up in an emergency room and we all end up paying for that at a much higher cost than if we have preventative care and regular care for people.”

Pritzker has carved out $220 million for the Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors Program in the new state budget, but a recent report estimated that taxpayers could be on the hook for nearly $1 billion next year in healthcare costs for undocumented immigrants.

According to NewsChannel 20, Sen. Sally Turner (R-Lincoln) said the state shouldn't concern itself with the health care problems of undocumented immigrants.

"I don't think that that's something that we need to do," Turner said. "I think that our religious communities and communities that offer services, such as out of the goodness of their heart, those types of things, that's who needs to be stepping up to the plate."

Turner said the funding could be better spent.

"We have a problem and it needs to be stopped on the federal level. So that whole mess that's going on at the federal level needs to be fixed and it needs to be fixed now. So that we don't have these problems," Turner said.

Pritzker recently signed his state record-setting $50.4 billion budget into law including major boosts for education, and health care and childcare. The new plan also invests in law enforcement and measures meant to help the homeless. 

Pritzker added that he is working with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's team to help the city deal with the ongoing crisis while adding the number of asylum seekers has diminished greatly over the last month.