CHICAGO – With the announcement of his plan to veto three immigrant protection bills today, Gov. Bruce Rauner put into action the anti-immigrant rhetoric his party has embraced, State Senator Martin A. Sandoval (D-Chicago) said.

“He can say whatever he wants to about being a diversity governor, but this shows he subscribes to the same talking points and has the same anti-immigrant ideals as Donald Trump, who has done irreparable harm to immigrant communities,” Sandoval said.

Rauner said he will veto three measures, including a bill which would prohibit landlords from questioning a tenant’s immigration status as a means of harassment or to force an eviction. Rauner said he would also veto the Immigration Safe Zones Act to protect immigrants in courthouses, schools, libraries, medical facilities and shelters, and the VOICES Act (SB 34), which would have set consistent rules for law enforcement agencies that work with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and other crimes.

“These are measures that would have given immigrants basic human rights and protected them from deportation simply for reporting crimes,” Sandoval said. “As we draw closer to November, Rauner gets closer and closer to being a Donald Trump clone than an independently-minded leader.”

Rauner planned to veto the bills despite calls for his signature from former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar in a newspaper op-ed this week.

Sandoval said Rauner’s vetoes will make Illinois’ streets more dangerous.

“The governor and his boss Donald Trump would like everyone to believe that all immigrants are criminals. Obviously this is naïve and inhumane,” Sandoval said. “But with this veto, the governor prevents law-abiding, tax-paying immigrants from being able to report crimes without fearing deportation. These vetoes will make all of us less safe.”

Worst of all, Sandoval said, Rauner used his announcement of his planned vetoes to politicize the recent murder of a young woman in Iowa.

“There’s no more beating around the Bush,” Sandoval said. “Gov. Rauner has begun to embrace this anti-immigrant rhetoric because he thinks that’s what his voters want. Vetoing these measures is mean-spirited and dangerous. The governor should know this and should have more faith in the decency of the people of Illinois.”   

CHICAGO – State Senator Martin A. Sandoval (D-Chicago) called on Gov. Bruce Rauner this week to explain why the state has fallen woefully short of minority inclusion goals in state contracts.

Sandoval, the Chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Special Committee on Supplier Diversity, addressed a letter to Rauner to find out why the governor’s hand-picked university trustees are not doing more to reach the required Business Enterprise Program (BEP) goal of spending 20 percent of their contractual dollars with businesses owned by minorities, women and people with disabilities.

“Rauner is the governor who appointed the majority of the trustees of each of these universities and who administers CMS,” Sandoval said. “I want to know why he’s allowing universities to neglect these requirements and what his administration intends to do to compel compliance.”

Sandoval has already convened one hearing of the Committee on Supplier Diversity with the goal of finding statutory improvements to encourage or mandate the inclusion of businesses owned by minorities, women and disabled persons in state contracts. At that meeting, many of the universities expressed frustrations with CMS’ inability to maintain an accurate database of BEP-certified vendors.

Sandoval called on the governor to convene a summit with all universities in close consultation with CMS to focus on the topic.

“The state’s hiring practices are a reflection of this governor’s opinion of minority communities,” Sandoval said. “If he wants to be taken seriously as a diversity governor, he has to work harder to include diverse contractors in state hiring.”

Sandoval requested a meeting with the governor to discuss the matter by the end of September. He also plans to schedule future supplier diversity committee hearings in September and October for the purpose of questioning other industries such as hospitals, MCOs, casinos and other emerging industries.

“It’s clear that some in these industries are less than sincere about their corporate supplier diversity programs,” Sandoval said. “Government must lead by example followed by the corporate sector that is beneficiary of public funding.”