CHICAGO - Precious tax dollars are being diverted to providing legal assistance to those facing deportation in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.
While Chicago can't find funds to keep schools open, in December, at Mayor Rahm Emanuel's request, the Chicago City Council set aside $1.3 million they don't have for a legal defense fund to help immigrants threatened with deportation.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform explains why they see this development worsening:
Deportation proceedings before immigration courts are civil, not criminal cases. And like all civil court matters, people who are fighting removal from the United States have no constitutional right to publicly funded representation. As such, local government officials in these jurisdictions are simply deciding on their own to use the taxpayers' money to promote their own efforts to thwart immigration law enforcement.
At the same time, U.S. citizens or legal immigrants facing civil court matters, like foreclosures, evictions in tenant/landlord proceedings, child custody cases, and divorce proceedings, will receive no such public freebee.
Those criminals that would be allowed to hide from federal law enforcement in Illinois hospitals, taxpayer-funded schools and other government facilities in a bill proceeding through the Illinois legislature will demand legal representation - it will be a necessity. FAIR writes:
So far, these diversions of scarce public monies to provide legal counsel for illegal aliens have flown under the radar of most residents in these cities. But as people catch wind of how their money is being spent - and where it's not being spent - look for significant pushback even in places like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
