SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Javier Loera Cervantes’ legislation expanding protections for immigrant workers from wrongful workplace retaliation due to issues with their paperwork has passed the Senate, making it one step closer to becoming law.

“As the son of a single immigrant mother, I know firsthand how committed immigrant workers are to doing good work and creating a better life for themselves and their families. Their place in the workforce should not come into question due to misfiled paperwork,” said Cervantes (D-Chicago).  “I am proud this bill will ensure immigrant workers can receive support from legal experts if their E-Verify status is called into question, and help them sort out discrepancies before losing their livelihood over a misunderstanding.”

Federal immigration law requires employers to verify the legal work status of their employees through the E-Verify system, which compares information from an employee’s I-9 Form to records available to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to confirm eligibility. If discrepancies are found, immigrant workers have the possibility of receiving a “no match” letter for a variety of reasons, including instances where the individual changed their name due to marriage. Many employers terminate employees upon receiving this notice, even though they could be legally working in the United States.

SPRINGFIELD – Applicants for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) grants may soon see faster turnarounds on their approvals, thanks to a new initiative led by State Senator Javier Cervantes.

“Grant applicants and workers are suffering from the burden of relying on volunteers to grade ICJIA grant applications,” said Cervantes (D-Chicago). “With this legislation, both parties will see a faster turnaround time, and not need to deal with unnecessary stress.”

Currently, ICJIA is required to utilize volunteer workers to score grant applications, a rule intended to keep the process unbiased. However, this can lead to lengthy delays due to dips in volunteer work, or unreliable expertise levels in the grading process.

SPRINGFIELD –To ensure dental patients do not have to pay the bill for their visits out of pocket until their claim is processed, State Senator Javier Cervantes is working on legislation that would require insurance to cover visits immediately.

“Patients should not have to worry about a shelling out a majority of their paycheck from visiting a dentist when they have dental insurance,” said Cervantes (D-Chicago). “Thanks to this measure, their visits will be automatically paid by insurance, without making patients go through the reimbursement process.”

Without this legislation, dental insurance carriers would only be required to cover the cost of the visit—but it is unspecified if they need to pay the providers directly, or just reimburse the patient for their visit. This means many insurance plans do not immediately pay for a patient’s treatment, and leave them to cover the bill after the visit, only to reimburse them months later.

CHICAGO – State Senator Javier Cervantes will be moving his Chicago office to a new Berwyn location —and invites local residents to pop by for the grand opening.   

“The Berwyn location has been a long time coming – and I’m excited to get it off the ground,” said Cervantes (D-Chicago). “This new location is centrally located and is right on the Metra BNSF line so we can better serve our community.”

To celebrate the new office Cervantes will be hosting a Grand Opening and Block Party on Thursday, April 17 from 4:30-6 p.m. The address of the new office is 6729 Stanley Ave., 1^st Floor, Suite A in Berwyn.