Don't Panic On Immigration: Elmhurst Mayor

ELMHURST, IL – When Texas dropped off migrants on buses in the suburbs, towns such as Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills quickly passed ordinances regulating the buses.

Other communities, including Elmhurst, did not.

At a League of Women Voters forum this week, Mayor Scott Levin and his opponent in the April 1 election, Mark Mulliner, were asked how they would handle the "deportation crisis" if it reaches Elmhurst.

Levin said "some of the crisis" reached Elmhurst when the buses came. Texas was taking the migrants to towns with train stations, where the migrants were then moved to Chicago.

"I took a leadership role in saying, 'Let's not overact or overreact,'" the mayor said.

He said the city made sure the migrants, many of them from Venezuela and other Latin American countries, got to the train station safely and that residents were kept safe.

"We didn't have to panic and pass a lot of ordinances, which might be unnecessary and offensive," the mayor said. "So one of the things we have to do here is make sure we continue to act responsibly based upon the situation at hand."

Mulliner, a former longtime alderman, said the main priority is to protect citizens no matter what. He said the response last year – moving out the migrants and "illegals" – was the best approach.

He said the police should notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, when the agency has a detainer on a person, as he said federal law requires.

"I think we need to take that responsibility as a city," Mulliner said. "I do believe that right now, we're OK. We don't need to pass more ordinances, but we need to make sure that we're protecting our citizens first and foremost."