North Cook News

Recent images posted on social media have ignited a debate in Wilmette, as several photos depict individuals, purportedly illegal immigrants, seeking work and assistance in the affluent North Shore suburb. 

The photos, shared by X user @tnertz, show scenes of individuals holding signs seeking employment, accompanied by children picking food from bags left on the street.

In one striking image, a man carrying a child wrapped in a blanket stands alongside a shivering companion with a sign that reads, "Help, we have just arrived in this country and we are unemployed. Could you please help us with clothes..." 

Another photo features a man at a street corner near upscale shopping center Plaza Del Lago displaying a sign expressing his search for work in various fields such as restaurants, painting, cleaning and driving.

In another photo a man holds up a sign for passing cars reading “hello, help me with a real job. I need it please. Whatever.”

".@VofWilmette is amassing a population of migrants on Chicago’s North Shore. I’m not sure if they are making day trips (on @cta / @metra ) from Chicago migrant shelters or if they have shelter nearby (downtown @CityofEvanston has homeless shelters) of my previous posts from the last month," @tnertz commented on X

In 2017 New Trier Township, of which Wilmette is part of, adopted a Welcoming Resolution making it a “sanctuary” municipality. 

“Be it resolved that the policy of the Township shall be to welcome and treat all persons living in our Township with the same respect, fairness, and dignity, and to continue providing services on an equal basis to all people, regardless of their race, color, ethnicity, religion, nation of origin or descent, or federal immigration status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other protected status under the Illinois Human Rights Act,” New Trier Township’s welcoming resolution noted at the time.

The sanctuary ordinance was later updated in 2020 noting “Township government and its agents and agencies shall not make citizenship or immigration status a condition of providing services or benefits.”