Bill Text: IL HJR0069 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Engrossed
Bill Title: Urges the President of the United States to authorize the DHS Secretary to establish a program to evaluate parole and work authorization on a case-by-case basis for long-term immigrant workers who are undocumented and residing in Illinois to address this State's critical need for labor and to secure the family life for tens of thousands of mixed status families in Illinois. Urges the Governor to work with federal partners to urge, by all possible means, the establishment of such a parole and work authorization program for the long-term immigrant population who are undocumented and residing in Illinois.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 33-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-05-26 - Adopted Both Houses [HJR0069 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2023-HJR0069-Engrossed.html
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1 | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 69 | ||||||
2 | WHEREAS, Under the federal Immigration and Nationality | ||||||
3 | Act, 8 USC §1182(d)(5), the federal government has the | ||||||
4 | discretionary authority to grant parole, permission to | ||||||
5 | temporarily remain in the United States and apply for | ||||||
6 | employment authorization, to any noncitizen "on a case-by-case | ||||||
7 | basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public | ||||||
8 | benefit," and the US Supreme Court has recognized this | ||||||
9 | authority as recently as its 2022 decision in Biden v. Texas, | ||||||
10 | 597 U.S. __, 142 S. Ct. 2528; and
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11 | WHEREAS, The U.S. government has exercised its parole | ||||||
12 | authority in a wide variety of ways for humanitarian reasons | ||||||
13 | and significant public benefit; and
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14 | WHEREAS, A program known as Military Parole in Place | ||||||
15 | already exists for spouses, parents, or children, who are | ||||||
16 | undocumented, of active-duty or former active duty members of | ||||||
17 | the U.S. Armed Forces and the Selected Reserve of the Ready | ||||||
18 | Reserve; and
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19 | WHEREAS, President Biden has utilized parole more than any | ||||||
20 | other U.S. president in history, extending the program to more | ||||||
21 | than 1 million people over the past three years; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Illinois is home to 1.8 million immigrants, | ||||||
2 | comprising 14% of the State's population, the great majority | ||||||
3 | of whom are naturalized citizens or legal permanent residents, | ||||||
4 | according to the Illinois Immigrant Impact Task Force Report; | ||||||
5 | and
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6 | WHEREAS, Immigration is critical to maintaining Illinois | ||||||
7 | populations levels, compensating for declines in the | ||||||
8 | native-born population; and
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9 | WHEREAS, Immigrants play a key role in the State of | ||||||
10 | Illinois through cultural, economic, and social contributions, | ||||||
11 | and the dignity and humanity of our immigrant communities | ||||||
12 | transcend their substantial role in the labor force; and
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13 | WHEREAS, The U.S. is experiencing an unprecedented labor | ||||||
14 | shortage across multiple sectors of our economy that are vital | ||||||
15 | to our national well-being; and
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16 | WHEREAS, In the State of Illinois, the fifth largest | ||||||
17 | economy in the United States, critical industries, such as | ||||||
18 | manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, agriculture, | ||||||
19 | healthcare, childcare, senior/home care, hospitality, | ||||||
20 | construction, and education, are experiencing a prolonged | ||||||
21 | staffing shortage that is harming their growth and | ||||||
22 | competitiveness; and
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1 | WHEREAS, According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as | ||||||
2 | analyzed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Illinois has, on | ||||||
3 | average, 76 available workers for every 100 jobs; and
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4 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Employment Security | ||||||
5 | (IDES) reports that the largest number of high-demand, | ||||||
6 | high-wage job openings through 2030 are in occupations that | ||||||
7 | require short-term or moderate-term on-the-job training, | ||||||
8 | including over 56,000 annual openings in the restaurant | ||||||
9 | sector, over 41,000 annual openings for laborers, assemblers, | ||||||
10 | and maintenance workers, over 59,000 annual openings for | ||||||
11 | cashiers and retail sales and customer service | ||||||
12 | representatives, and over 15,000 annual openings in home | ||||||
13 | health and personal care aides; and
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14 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Farm Bureau has indicated that local | ||||||
15 | worker shortages are among the top current challenges for | ||||||
16 | Illinois farmers, suppliers, and processors, including | ||||||
17 | locating qualified truck drivers to haul grain and sourcing | ||||||
18 | enough hands to pick vegetables or manage livestock, and | ||||||
19 | furthermore, that this shortage in the agricultural supply | ||||||
20 | chains continues to not only undermine the financial health of | ||||||
21 | farms in Illinois but, more importantly, threaten food | ||||||
22 | security, and, ultimately, our national security; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education's (ISBE) | ||||||
2 | 2023 Unfilled Positions Report shows that school districts in | ||||||
3 | Illinois reported more unfilled positions in FY23 than they | ||||||
4 | did in FY22; there continues to be a high demand for | ||||||
5 | paraprofessionals and teachers, particularly in the City of | ||||||
6 | Chicago, the Northeast region, and the East Central region, | ||||||
7 | and the demand for paraprofessionals, who often serve special | ||||||
8 | education and bilingual students, outweighs the supply; and
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9 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Nursing Workforce Center reports | ||||||
10 | that the State is facing an estimated shortfall of nearly | ||||||
11 | 15,000 nurses by 2025 and a deficit of 6,200 physicians by | ||||||
12 | 2030, fueled in part by pandemic burnout and by providers | ||||||
13 | leaving the profession or retiring, as 52% of the almost | ||||||
14 | 195,000 RNs in Illinois are over the age of 55 with 27% | ||||||
15 | planning to retire in the next five years and less than 8,000 | ||||||
16 | nurses graduating each year; and
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17 | WHEREAS, The Migration Policy Institute estimates that | ||||||
18 | there are more than 12,000 Illinois residents with | ||||||
19 | international healthcare degrees who are prohibited from | ||||||
20 | providing care due to licensing or worker authorization; and
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21 | WHEREAS, The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) | ||||||
22 | reports that many seniors in the Illinois Community Cares | ||||||
23 | Program (CCP) are already going without the care they should |
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1 | receive due to a severe workforce shortage, and the number of | ||||||
2 | authorized CCP hours not serviced has increased by 46%; much | ||||||
3 | of the increased need for home care is associated with the | ||||||
4 | increasing number of senior Illinoisans, a strong preference | ||||||
5 | for in-home rather than nursing facility services, and a | ||||||
6 | strong preference for culturally competent care; IDES projects | ||||||
7 | that Illinois will need an additional 9,000 home care workers | ||||||
8 | annually for each of the next ten years; and
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9 | WHEREAS, In the education sector alone, Illinois school | ||||||
10 | districts report a high number of unfilled teaching and | ||||||
11 | paraprofessional positions; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Teachers and paraprofessionals are essential for | ||||||
13 | primary and secondary school students in our State, | ||||||
14 | particularly for special education and bilingual students; and
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15 | WHEREAS, The existing worker shortage is so great that | ||||||
16 | many school districts have been forced to contract workers | ||||||
17 | directly from abroad, even though long-term immigrants are | ||||||
18 | well-suited to fill these positions; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Despite the State's critical need for labor, | ||||||
20 | nearly half a million Illinoisans who are undocumented are | ||||||
21 | still unable to legally work; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Nearly 30% of Illinoisans who are undocumented | ||||||
2 | have been residing and contributing to the workforce in the | ||||||
3 | U.S. for over 20 years; and
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4 | WHEREAS, The majority of residents in Illinois who are | ||||||
5 | undocumented reside in mixed status families with U.S. citizen | ||||||
6 | and lawful permanent resident family members; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Long-term immigrant workers in Illinois who are | ||||||
8 | undocumented empower key sectors of the economy, including | ||||||
9 | manufacturing, farming, food production, senior/home care, | ||||||
10 | child care, healthcare, education, construction, hospitality, | ||||||
11 | and warehousing, contributing to our State's prosperity and | ||||||
12 | also contributing approximately $1.5 billion in taxes per | ||||||
13 | year; and
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14 | WHEREAS, Granting work permits will provide a significant | ||||||
15 | public benefit to Illinois' economy by expanding the formal | ||||||
16 | workforce to include all who have the eligibility to work, | ||||||
17 | while increasing taxes paid to the State; and
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18 | WHEREAS, The exclusion from federal benefits leaves | ||||||
19 | long-term immigrant workers who are undocumented and their | ||||||
20 | families vulnerable and forces the State of Illinois to spend | ||||||
21 | our tax dollars to provide critical health care and other | ||||||
22 | benefits; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Illinois provides limited benefits and resources | ||||||
2 | for individuals who are undocumented, including limited | ||||||
3 | healthcare coverage for low-income qualifying immigrants, much | ||||||
4 | of which would be unnecessary if the undocumented had work | ||||||
5 | permits and could secure such benefits through their | ||||||
6 | employment; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Granting work permits would allow workers to earn | ||||||
8 | a fair wage and secure benefits, including health insurance; | ||||||
9 | and
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10 | WHEREAS, Granting work permits would aid in the | ||||||
11 | enforcement of existing labor laws, thereby reducing the | ||||||
12 | exploitation of our lowest wage workers, the majority of whom | ||||||
13 | are workers of color and immigrants; and
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14 | WHEREAS, Work permits would enable tens of thousands of | ||||||
15 | students in Illinois who are undocumented and without the | ||||||
16 | protection of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to | ||||||
17 | support themselves and their families, fund their continued | ||||||
18 | education, and contribute to the State and national economies; | ||||||
19 | and
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20 | WHEREAS, Despite the protections Illinois has enacted to | ||||||
21 | protect long-term immigrant workers who are undocumented, they |
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1 | continue to be at risk of deportation, family separation, | ||||||
2 | exploitation at work, and exclusion from health care and other | ||||||
3 | benefits due to their immigration status, all of which | ||||||
4 | negatively affects Illinois' economy and public safety and the | ||||||
5 | quality-of-life in our communities; and
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6 | WHEREAS, For all of these reasons, work permits for | ||||||
7 | long-term immigrant workers would be a significant public | ||||||
8 | benefit to the State of Illinois; and
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9 | WHEREAS, Only the federal government can issue work | ||||||
10 | permits to people who are undocumented under its parole | ||||||
11 | authority; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Undocumented immigrants in Illinois and | ||||||
13 | throughout the United States ultimately need permanent | ||||||
14 | solutions, such as updating the federal registry program and | ||||||
15 | other broad legalization legislation, that would enable them | ||||||
16 | to gain permanent lawful status and more fully live with | ||||||
17 | dignity and participate in the economic, civic, and social | ||||||
18 | life of our nation; and
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19 | WHEREAS, The U.S. Congress and the White House must act | ||||||
20 | urgently to pass such permanent solutions; and
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21 | WHEREAS, Short of Congressional action, the White House |
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1 | and the Department of Homeland Security must use all available | ||||||
2 | tools to protect and improve the lives of immigrants as | ||||||
3 | members of our community; therefore, be it
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4 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
5 | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | ||||||
6 | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the President of the | ||||||
7 | United States to authorize the DHS Secretary to establish a | ||||||
8 | program to evaluate parole and work authorization on a | ||||||
9 | case-by-case basis for long-term immigrant workers who are | ||||||
10 | undocumented and residing in Illinois to address this State's | ||||||
11 | critical need for labor and to secure the family life for tens | ||||||
12 | of thousands of mixed status families in Illinois and to work | ||||||
13 | with DHS and the US Department of Justice to zealously defend | ||||||
14 | any such program from potential legal challenges; and be it | ||||||
15 | further
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16 | RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor to work with federal | ||||||
17 | partners to urge, by all possible means, the establishment of | ||||||
18 | such a parole and work authorization program for the long-term | ||||||
19 | immigrant population who are undocumented and residing in | ||||||
20 | Illinois; and be it further
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