Governor JB Pritzker signed Tuesday legislation that protects immigrant youth in Illinois.
House Bill 836 ensures children are able to have short-term guardians if they have a parent detained or deported by ICE. House Bill 1553 helps undocumented youth to obtain visas by aligning state laws with existing federal laws.
"The accomplishments we have secured together have been done in the name of this shared belief: Nobody should ever be treated as less than a person because of where they were born," said Governor Pritzker. "That's not the message coming from Washington. Just this morning, the Trump administration announced a new class of undocumented immigrants to be subjected to expedited deportation. Once again, they are demonizing people who don't look and think like they do. There is no place for that in Illinois. I'm proud to sign legislation that offers greater stability to the lives of immigrant children who deserve all the hope we can give them."
