Joliet council member Guerrero defends Spanish Community Center

Joliet City Council member Cesar Guerrero this week spoke in defense of the Spanish Community Center, saying he and the organization have been wrongly linked to migrant buses arriving from Texas.

In extended comments made at the end of the City Council meeting Tuesday, Guerrero referred to allegations that the Spanish Community Center may benefit from the arrival of migrant buses coming to Joliet.

“I will not stand idly by and watch as anyone bad-mouths a pillar of our community, an organization that has been dedicated for decades to helping Americans and migrants,” Guerrero said.

Guerrero was in Peru on what he said was a planned trip Jan. 2 when the City Council approved an ordinance regulating migrant bus arrivals. A number of residents spoke in favor of the ordinance, and a few suggested that the city take a hard look at the Spanish Community Center.

“So you can imagine my surprise being 4,000 miles away and hearing some of the feedback that was happening during the course of that meeting and immediately afterward,” Guerrero said.

Guerrero said he supports the bus ordinance but called suggestions that he and local nonprofits were getting money from bused migrants “insane.”

Calls for the city to cut support for the Spanish Community Center are “nothing short of disgusting,” Guerrero said.

His comments came at the end of a meeting in which the council approved of providing $123,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds, which are funneled through the city, to the Spanish Community Center to improve access to the building for those with disabilities.

A half-dozen people spoke to the council urging approval of the funding, a sign of concern that the recent stir over migrant buses could endanger what traditionally has been city support for the Spanish Community Center.

“Over the years, the Spanish Community Center has not only been a refuge and a safe haven but also a staple in the community,” Amy Sanchez, a past president of the Collins Street Neighborhood Council, said to the council in urging support of the funding.

Others who spoke on behalf of the Spanish Community Center noted that its services, which include a food pantry, day care and housing assistance, are not limited to immigrants and people of Hispanic origin.

“They are there for the entire community,” said Tanya Arias, a Joliet Township trustee who is the current president of the Collins Street Neighborhood Council.

Guerrero on Wednesday said the turnout of support for the Spanish Community Center reflected concerns that city support for the organization could be affected by the migrant busing issue.

“There’s definitely a sense of anxiety,” Guerrero said. “I think there are some questions of whether the center will continue to receive support from long-standing partners, including the city of Joliet, but also other donors and organizations.”