WATCH: Sides lay out positions on immigration reform amid increased enforcement

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Amidst continued immigration enforcement efforts under the Trump administration in Chicago, the debate about immigration reform continues.

Last month at the Illinois State Fair, Illinois U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg, said the legal immigration system needs to be reformed.

“So for undocumented folks, giving them a path to legalization, ultimately citizenship for [Temporary Protected Status] and dreamers doing the same for high skilled talent,” Krishnamoorthi told reporters Aug. 13.

During a State Freedom Caucus Network Summit in Dallas, Texas, last week, Texas U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Flower Mound, said policy makers actually should be tightening up legal immigration, not making it more lax.

“It does come with reducing legal immigration substantially, and reforming and actually choosing who we think is going to benefit to come into the United States,” Gill said on Sept. 6.

Monday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Operation Midway Blitz, an enhanced immigration enforcement effort focused on Chicago.

George W. Bush Ambassador to the Holy See Francis Rooney said he hopes the Trump administration listens to Pope Leo, an Illinois native, and other Catholic and religious leaders about immigration.

“I don’t think the American people are going to continue to support what’s happening when they see the impact of higher prices, because the loss of all of our Hispanic workers,” Rooney told The Center Square. “That’s one thing for sure, that they would be wise to listen to Pope Leo.”

At an unrelated event in Bensenville this week, U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta said their measure of success in Chicago with Operation Midway Blitz is saving lives.

“So, every life saved is a success,” he said. “We’ve been saving a lot of lives here in our surges.”

The Department of Homeland Security announced the operation Monday in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed last January in a crash involving a noncitizen migrant.