CHICAGO – Illinois shelters are home to 66 children separated from their parents under President Donald Trump’s border policies and Senator Martin A. Sandoval (D-Chicago) is calling for the state to do all it can to reunite the shattered families.

“Two-thirds of these children are younger than five years old,” Sandoval said. “They are scared, missing their parents and vulnerable because of the vicious whims of our president. Our state has the power to bring these children back to their parents and demonstrate the compassion for which the United States of America is supposed to stand. I call upon our leaders to do so.”  

Sandoval, the co-chairman of the Illinois Latino Caucus, said the Department of Children and Family Services has licensing power over the Illinois shelters and should dedicate any necessary resources to reuniting families.  

The nine shelters in Illinois that house the children are run by the non-profit Heartland Alliance. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin announced in a press conference Friday that he visited the facilities and witnessed the children receiving “good care.”  

“I join Senator Durbin in calling upon President Trump to once again make the United States of America a country that observes the principles of our sacred bill of rights,” Sandoval said. 

Heartland's Illinois shelters house 451 immigrant children, most of them unaccompanied minors. Heartland representatives said they are seeing an increase in arrivals and an increase in the level of trauma and services needed to care for the minors in their shelters.  

“It’s clear the U.S. government is unprepared to care for these children and it’s horrifying that our president believes government shelters are a better place for them than their parents’ arms,” Sandoval said. “Everything about this is wrong. While Illinois only houses a small portion of these children, we have the power to send a message to the nation and the world as to how to handle this disastrous situation.”

CHICAGO – State Senator Martin A. Sandoval (D-Chicago) has been appointed as the Chair of a first-in-the-nation bipartisan Special Committee on Supplier Diversity in the Illinois Senate.

Sandoval was appointed on May 31 by Senate President John J. Cullerton. Sandoval will be tasked with ensuring public and private sector institutions offer opportunities for business and job growth for minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses.

“The best solution to reduce crime, improve schools, balance our budgets and improve our communities starts with good jobs,” Sandoval said. “Expanding opportunities for small businesses to create those jobs is my personal mission and passion.”

The Special Committee on Supplier Diversity is an official committee of the Illinois Senate. As chairman, Sandoval intends to hold hearings in Chicago and Springfield to provide much-needed oversight to state and local governments and private industries.  Sandoval said he will work to ensure industries such as utilities, railroads, telecommunications, gaming, private higher education and hospitals are offering opportunities to entrepreneurs and smaller businesses, particularly those owned by veterans, minorities and women.

“Through a series of ground-breaking laws over the last seven years, we have created collaborative policies and programs to assist private sector businesses, such as hospitals and utilities, with their current supplier diversity initiatives,” Sandoval said. “I am proud to have helped establish these laws with the strong support of advocates and my colleagues in the General Assembly. I look forward to improving and expanding them in 2019.”

Sandoval said he is happy to work with other members of the Latino Caucus as well as the Black and Women Caucuses. Illinois Senate Assistant Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford said she is excited to join in the effort.

“These laws turn state agencies into valuable partners, bridging the gap between large institutions like hospitals, utilities, railroads and the many small business in Illinois and Cook County that want to do business with them,” Lightford said. “Every new contract from these national companies with a Cook County business that employs a Cook County resident is a win for our communities and that’s why I am so dedicated to this cause.”

The first meeting of the Special Committee on Supplier Diversity is scheduled for early July in Chicago.