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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 69

 
2    WHEREAS, Under the federal Immigration and Nationality
3Act, 8 USC §1182(d)(5), the federal government has the
4discretionary authority to grant parole, permission to
5temporarily remain in the United States and apply for
6employment authorization, to any noncitizen "on a case-by-case
7basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public
8benefit," and the US Supreme Court has recognized this
9authority as recently as its 2022 decision in Biden v. Texas,
10597 U.S. __, 142 S. Ct. 2528; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The U.S. government has exercised its parole
12authority in a wide variety of ways for humanitarian reasons
13and significant public benefit; and
 
14    WHEREAS, A program known as Military Parole in Place
15already exists for spouses, parents, or children, who are
16undocumented, of active-duty or former active duty members of
17the U.S. Armed Forces and the Selected Reserve of the Ready
18Reserve; and
 
19    WHEREAS, President Biden has utilized parole more than any
20other U.S. president in history, extending the program to more
21than 1 million people over the past three years; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Illinois is home to 1.8 million immigrants,
2comprising 14% of the State's population, the great majority
3of whom are naturalized citizens or legal permanent residents,
4according to the Illinois Immigrant Impact Task Force Report;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Immigration is critical to maintaining Illinois
7populations levels, compensating for declines in the
8native-born population; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Immigrants play a key role in the State of
10Illinois through cultural, economic, and social contributions,
11and the dignity and humanity of our immigrant communities
12transcend their substantial role in the labor force; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The U.S. is experiencing an unprecedented labor
14shortage across multiple sectors of our economy that are vital
15to our national well-being; and
 
16    WHEREAS, In the State of Illinois, the fifth largest
17economy in the United States, critical industries, such as
18manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, agriculture,
19healthcare, childcare, senior/home care, hospitality,
20construction, and education, are experiencing a prolonged
21staffing shortage that is harming their growth and
22competitiveness; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as
2analyzed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Illinois has, on
3average, 76 available workers for every 100 jobs; and
 
4    WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Employment Security
5(IDES) reports that the largest number of high-demand,
6high-wage job openings through 2030 are in occupations that
7require short-term or moderate-term on-the-job training,
8including over 56,000 annual openings in the restaurant
9sector, over 41,000 annual openings for laborers, assemblers,
10and maintenance workers, over 59,000 annual openings for
11cashiers and retail sales and customer service
12representatives, and over 15,000 annual openings in home
13health and personal care aides; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The Illinois Farm Bureau has indicated that local
15worker shortages are among the top current challenges for
16Illinois farmers, suppliers, and processors, including
17locating qualified truck drivers to haul grain and sourcing
18enough hands to pick vegetables or manage livestock, and
19furthermore, that this shortage in the agricultural supply
20chains continues to not only undermine the financial health of
21farms in Illinois but, more importantly, threaten food
22security, and, ultimately, our national security; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education's (ISBE)
22023 Unfilled Positions Report shows that school districts in
3Illinois reported more unfilled positions in FY23 than they
4did in FY22; there continues to be a high demand for
5paraprofessionals and teachers, particularly in the City of
6Chicago, the Northeast region, and the East Central region,
7and the demand for paraprofessionals, who often serve special
8education and bilingual students, outweighs the supply; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The Illinois Nursing Workforce Center reports
10that the State is facing an estimated shortfall of nearly
1115,000 nurses by 2025 and a deficit of 6,200 physicians by
122030, fueled in part by pandemic burnout and by providers
13leaving the profession or retiring, as 52% of the almost
14195,000 RNs in Illinois are over the age of 55 with 27%
15planning to retire in the next five years and less than 8,000
16nurses graduating each year; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The Migration Policy Institute estimates that
18there are more than 12,000 Illinois residents with
19international healthcare degrees who are prohibited from
20providing care due to licensing or worker authorization; and
 
21    WHEREAS, The Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
22reports that many seniors in the Illinois Community Cares
23Program (CCP) are already going without the care they should

 

 

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1receive due to a severe workforce shortage, and the number of
2authorized CCP hours not serviced has increased by 46%; much
3of the increased need for home care is associated with the
4increasing number of senior Illinoisans, a strong preference
5for in-home rather than nursing facility services, and a
6strong preference for culturally competent care; IDES projects
7that Illinois will need an additional 9,000 home care workers
8annually for each of the next ten years; and
 
9    WHEREAS, In the education sector alone, Illinois school
10districts report a high number of unfilled teaching and
11paraprofessional positions; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Teachers and paraprofessionals are essential for
13primary and secondary school students in our State,
14particularly for special education and bilingual students; and
 
15    WHEREAS, The existing worker shortage is so great that
16many school districts have been forced to contract workers
17directly from abroad, even though long-term immigrants are
18well-suited to fill these positions; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Despite the State's critical need for labor,
20nearly half a million Illinoisans who are undocumented are
21still unable to legally work; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Nearly 30% of Illinoisans who are undocumented
2have been residing and contributing to the workforce in the
3U.S. for over 20 years; and
 
4    WHEREAS, The majority of residents in Illinois who are
5undocumented reside in mixed status families with U.S. citizen
6and lawful permanent resident family members; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Long-term immigrant workers in Illinois who are
8undocumented empower key sectors of the economy, including
9manufacturing, farming, food production, senior/home care,
10child care, healthcare, education, construction, hospitality,
11and warehousing, contributing to our State's prosperity and
12also contributing approximately $1.5 billion in taxes per
13year; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Granting work permits will provide a significant
15public benefit to Illinois' economy by expanding the formal
16workforce to include all who have the eligibility to work,
17while increasing taxes paid to the State; and
 
18    WHEREAS, The exclusion from federal benefits leaves
19long-term immigrant workers who are undocumented and their
20families vulnerable and forces the State of Illinois to spend
21our tax dollars to provide critical health care and other
22benefits; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Illinois provides limited benefits and resources
2for individuals who are undocumented, including limited
3healthcare coverage for low-income qualifying immigrants, much
4of which would be unnecessary if the undocumented had work
5permits and could secure such benefits through their
6employment; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Granting work permits would allow workers to earn
8a fair wage and secure benefits, including health insurance;
9and
 
10    WHEREAS, Granting work permits would aid in the
11enforcement of existing labor laws, thereby reducing the
12exploitation of our lowest wage workers, the majority of whom
13are workers of color and immigrants; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Work permits would enable tens of thousands of
15students in Illinois who are undocumented and without the
16protection of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to
17support themselves and their families, fund their continued
18education, and contribute to the State and national economies;
19and
 
20    WHEREAS, Despite the protections Illinois has enacted to
21protect long-term immigrant workers who are undocumented, they

 

 

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1continue to be at risk of deportation, family separation,
2exploitation at work, and exclusion from health care and other
3benefits due to their immigration status, all of which
4negatively affects Illinois' economy and public safety and the
5quality-of-life in our communities; and
 
6    WHEREAS, For all of these reasons, work permits for
7long-term immigrant workers would be a significant public
8benefit to the State of Illinois; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Only the federal government can issue work
10permits to people who are undocumented under its parole
11authority; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Undocumented immigrants in Illinois and
13throughout the United States ultimately need permanent
14solutions, such as updating the federal registry program and
15other broad legalization legislation, that would enable them
16to gain permanent lawful status and more fully live with
17dignity and participate in the economic, civic, and social
18life of our nation; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The U.S. Congress and the White House must act
20urgently to pass such permanent solutions; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Short of Congressional action, the White House

 

 

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1and the Department of Homeland Security must use all available
2tools to protect and improve the lives of immigrants as
3members of our community; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
5HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
6SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the President of the
7United States to authorize the DHS Secretary to establish a
8program to evaluate parole and work authorization on a
9case-by-case basis for long-term immigrant workers who are
10undocumented and residing in Illinois to address this State's
11critical need for labor and to secure the family life for tens
12of thousands of mixed status families in Illinois and to work
13with DHS and the US Department of Justice to zealously defend
14any such program from potential legal challenges; and be it
15further
 
16    RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor to work with federal
17partners to urge, by all possible means, the establishment of
18such a parole and work authorization program for the long-term
19immigrant population who are undocumented and residing in
20Illinois; and be it further
 
21    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
22delivered to the Office of the President of the United States
23and to all members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.