A contentious and raucous meeting where people debated whether the Joliet Township has the right to fight for illegal migrants without the input of community organizations took center stage Tuesday.

The City of Joliet is asking Joliet Township Supervisor Angel Contreras to withdraw his grant application to obtain an asylum grant from Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

If the application is not withdrawn, Joliet Township will receive up to $8.5 million from the State of Illinois to handle the influx of illegal immigrants coming into the county and seeking asylum status.

The township actually asked for more than $12 million to open three welcome centers and one clinic serving about 1,900 migrants by providing them with housing, food, shelter and health care.

Locations under consideration are Hartman Recreation Center, 511 N. Collins St.; Peter Claver Center, 172 S. Chicago St.; Spanish Community Center, 309 N. Eastern Ave.; and Duly Health and Care, 2100 Glenwood Ave.

After learning Hartman Recreation Center was included in the list of migrant welcoming centers, the Joliet Park District canceled a pending lease with the township. According to information provided at Tuesday’s meeting, the park district thought the township intended to use the recreation center for community events.

Contreras on Tuesday told the crowd the grant is needed to assist “strained” organizations already on the ground trying to mitigate the migrant crisis in Joliet Township.

“The purpose of this grant was to help our community partners who serve individuals beyond the county township and city boundaries,” said Contreras. “This is a reactive request grant to address current issues. It was not intended to bring more people to our areas,” a statement that irked the crowd.

Contreras said the township has yet to accept the grant money, adding all options will be considered before moving forward.

The City of Joliet is adamant that the grant application should be withdrawn, especially since leaders insist they had no part in the discussion process. 

“City staff met with Joliet Township, Spanish Community Center and Will Grundy Medical Clinic,” according to a statement posted on Joliet’s Web site by Mayor Terry D’Arcy and RodneyTonelli, interim city manager. “A general discussion was held regarding the current pressures placed on these agencies from asylum seekers currently in the community and whether this grant would help stabilize the financial burden placed on the community.

“City staff was aware these three organizations intended to have additional conversations regarding this grant opportunity and its applicability to meeting the current needs in the community, The City of Joliet provided no input in Joliet Township’s grant application.

“The City did not receive a request from Joliet Township, nor did we authorize Joliet Township to include the Mayor’s Office and Joliet Fire Department as collaborators,” the statement continued. “In fact, the city did not receive a copy of the grant application until Oct. 2.”

Residents also agree with the position of the City of Joliet.

“This is atrocious that we are going to house people who came into this country illegally,” said Jim Lenz of Shorewood. “Joliet Township should not reward for their bad behavior. How about helping the homeless population in Joliet?”

Karen Nightingale of Plainfield worries the impact asylum seekers will have on her community.

“We have no idea what types of diseases these people are bringing into this country,” she said. “Also, I worry this will cause more crime in the area. I look at what is happening in New York, and I do not want that here. Asylum seekers are living on the streets and causing more blight.”

Area resident Trista Graves Brown was adamant against the grant.

“We are unprepared for something we did not know about,” she said. “We have to first take care of our citizens here before we can go and take care of anybody else.”

Pritzker last week announced that his office would award $41.5 million to local governments that are welcoming asylum seekers.

The Illinois General Assembly and Pritzker appropriated $41.5 million from the general revenue fund to the Illinois Department of Human Services in the fiscal year 2024 budget to provide support to local municipalities for the provision of basic services to new arrivals.

Other municipalities receiving the funding include $30.25 million to the City of Chicago; $1.27 to the City of Elgin; and $150,000 to the Village of Oak Park.