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Ramey, Pankau differ on immigration

SPRINGFIELD — In their ongoing battle for a spot in the Illinois Senate, Republicans Sen. Carole Pankau and Rep. Randy Ramey have somewhat differing opinions over Ramey’s proposed Arizona-style immigration policy.

Ramey has drawn attention for the controversial proposal.

Pankau, of Itasca, said Monday that while she doesn’t oppose Ramey’s plan, she thinks it might not be necessary.

“My position has always been we don’t need any more laws on immigration,” Pankau said. “We need to enforce what we already have.”

She said local authorities already usually identify whether someone they ticket or arrest is in the country illegally. It’s up the federal government, she said, to step up enforcement.

Ramey said he’s still pushing his idea but has broken it into parts to try to get approval from lawmakers separately.

He won approval in the Illinois House last year for a proposal that would have illegal immigrants in the state prison system deported sooner. And this year, Ramey said he will also push legislation to require people to show an ID before voting or receiving state services like food stamps.

“We could start saving lots of money if we were just checking on IDs,” Ramey said.

Pankau has backed a plan to require the cards Illinoisans use in the food stamps program to have their photo on it.

The two are running for the Senate in the 23rd District, which includes parts of Carol Stream, Itasca, Bloomingdale, Villa Park and Bartlett.

The winner of the GOP primary will go on to face one of three Democrats: Greg Brownfield of Bartlett, Tom Cullerton of Villa Park or Kevin Allen of Addison.

The 23rd District Republican primary has been among the most heated in the state, it being a rare case when two incumbent lawmakers are running against each other. Pankau has served in the state Senate since 2005 and was in the Illinois House from 1993 to 2005.

Ramey has held his seat in the House since 2005 and is the DuPage County GOP chairman.

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