Orland Park officially declares it is not a sanctuary city

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By Jeff Vorva

For years, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau has been saying the village is a non-sanctuary municipality.

On January 15, the board of trustees made it official.

The board voted 6-0, with Joni Radaszewski absent, on an ordinance declaring that the village will not be a sanctuary city.

In past meetings, Pekau said that allowing migrants into the community was unfair to the residents of the community and unfair to the migrants themselves as Orland Park is not equipped to handle them.

He added that sanctuary cities go against federal law even though it’s being encouraged on the state and county level.

“We are clearly not a sanctuary city,” Pekau said. “We will not aid and abet the state, the county, or the city of Chicago in violating federal law.

“And it’s really unfortunate that we have to pass something like this. We shouldn’t really have to say that we need to pass an ordinance saying we’re going to follow federal law. But it seems like in this current environment, we do.”

On the problems caused by migrants and illegal immigrants, Pekau paraphrased former President Ronald Reagan.

“The beauty of America is that if you come here from somewhere else you can become an American,” Pekau said. “No other country takes people in, and they become Americans like America does.

“But it must be done legally and it seems absolutely nuts that we have to pass an ordinance that we will follow U.S. law. Now Chicago has reached out and asked us to help them violate federal law.”

The mayor said that there is $450 billion being spend nationally on “non-citizens illegally crossing our borders” and that money can be better spent on the local level.

Money for the vets

Pekau gave out checks totaling $20,000 to four local veterans groups from money raised at the Orland Park Veterans Golf Classic.

Also, the board named Angelo Munoz to the Veterans Commission and Pekau said there is still an opening to fill.