Heading into the 119th Congress Friday, Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García of Illinois’ fourth congressional district, including Brookfield, Riverside and North Riverside, named protecting immigrants and stopping social safety programs — social security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act — from being cut as two of his top goals.
He said his other priorities included addressing housing affordability, protecting access to nutrition across the district, defending women’s rights, “especially as it relates to reproductive health care,” and avoiding what he called costly “unnecessary forever wars.”
The Congressman said advocating for immigrants in the area will remain a focus of his. Last month, his office posted a video of him in Spanish offering resources and advice to constituents who are immigrants.
“First, I want to reassure the immigrant community that they’re not alone, that there are people in Congress who care and want to protect and defend them,” García told the Landmark Friday. He said there are organizations within the district “preparing to protect them as well” by providing “know-your-rights workshops” and legal services.
He underscored the importance of protecting immigrants against mass deportation, a campaign promise of President-elect Donald Trump, by pointing out the realities surrounding the legal process.
“To undertake the massive deportation that [Trump] promised is costly,” he said. “It’s estimated that just to deport a million people, it would cost $88 billion per year. That’s not in any budget at this time.”
He added that the legal system may not be prepared to handle the case load associated with mass deportations and that immigrants have the Constitutional right to due process.
“There aren’t enough immigration judges,” he said. “There aren’t enough [immigration] agents to carry this out.”
García said he will work to safeguard against alternative measures to deportations to protect immigrants.
“We will be very vigilant to protect against the creation of detention centers or camps that sort of beckon memories of World War II and how Japanese Americans were interned,” he said.
Congress cannot end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, he added: “It requires a Constitutional amendment, which is a long, drawn-out process.”
For a new amendment to become part of the Constitution, it must first be approved by a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives or by a national convention called by Congress, though this method has never occurred. Then, 38 states must each ratify the amendment through their state legislature or a state convention.
García said protecting his constituents against increased taxes goes hand-in-hand with protecting immigrants against mass deportations. He said that lower tax rates across the board from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are set to expire at the end of 2025, which could increase the United States’ budgetary deficit even further.
If the cuts are allowed to sunset as scheduled, “That will be telling, because many working-class voters … voted for Donald Trump because he was going to bring inflation under control and address their priorities as it related to the cost of living,” García said. “This would be a betrayal of those campaign promises.”
In the same vein, he said, mass deportations of immigrants would only worsen inflation and the cost of living, as immigrants contribute more than $360 billion in federal and state taxes.
“I’m heartened to hear the governor, the county board president in Cook County and the mayor reiterate their support for immigrants, given the role that they play in agriculture, in the meat packing industry, taking care of children and the elderly,” García said. “If you do anything to disrupt their participation in the economy, the effects will be felt by all of us in the form of higher costs, the availability of important services, and it would be very detrimental to the country.”
