South Central Reporter

Pana resident Tom Malcom is sharing his discontent with the state’s nearly $1 billion expenditure on healthcare for illegal immigrants. 

He noted that the “Illinois’ program for free Medicaid for illegal immigrants is costing 94 TIMES (potentially more than) what the Pritzker administration told Illinoisans it would cost just three years ago,” which to him is a "Classic Example Of Illinois’ Scandalous Budget Process."  

“Costs continue to grow; the state doesn’t have the money,” Malcome said on Facebook. “Additional pressure on Medicaid from this program comes at a time when the state is expected to lose $760 million in special Medicaid federal funding for its citizens that was provided to states during the pandemic."  

Malcom is an alum of El Paso High School who formerly worked as a remodeler. He also studied at Brown’s Business School in Peoria.

Spending on healthcare for illegal immigrants for 2023 increases to nearly $1 billion. State Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) was one of several Republicans to sound the alarm over outrageous spending in the Medicaid program dedicated to illegal immigrants. 

“Year after year, we saw the majority party continue to double down on these expansions, which are not eligible for federal matching funds,” Spain said at a press conference, according to Peoria Standard. “The Medicaid program in the State of Illinois is our biggest area of spending.” 

Spain said the out-of-control spending threatens the state’s fiscal stability. 

“This billion-dollar hole, which is just the beginning, requires the General Assembly to exercise fiscal responsibility in both the short-term and long-term to ensure state budget sustainability,” Spain said.

Despite the emergency declaration over the hordes of illegal immigrants streaming into Chicago issued in successor Lori Lightfoot’s final days in office new Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has maintained a pro-illegal immigrant stance, Chicago City Wire reported. 

"Chicago has always been a place that immigrants, migrants and refugees have called home,” Johnson’s campaign website reads. “It is a place where migrants and refugees from all over the world – from the Jim Crow South to the furthest reaches of the globe – have come to build lives and contribute to everything that makes our city great."

Due to the federal government’s “open borders” policy – which has only gotten worse after Act 42 expired – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been busing thousands of illegal immigrants to Chicago. Lightfoot sent a charged letter to Abbott on April 30 requesting he not send any more illegal immigrants to the city. Abbott and Texas have been regularly busing illegal immigrants to “sanctuary cities” such as Chicago where those who have entered the country illegally are provided with the status of ordinary citizens. 

“Since we began responding to the arrival of migrants sent by your delegation in August 2022, we have shouldered the responsibility of caring for more than 8,000 men, women, and children with no resources of their own,” Lightfoot said in her letter to Abbott. 

Lightfoot added that she was “sympathetic” to Texas's situation. 

“Though I am sympathetic to the significant challenges that border cities face, this situation is completely untenable. The national immigration problem will not be solved by passing on the responsibility to other cities.”