Progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker appear to be fighting over the tens of millions of dollars they will both need to fund a solution to the city’s immigration crisis.
Windy City is struggling to serve more than 34,000 asylum seekers bused from the border by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over the past 18 months. It has spent $156 million on the crisis and still has 14,200 immigrants in its 28 shelters, and is fighting with the state of Illinois over where to build more.
Pritzker, along with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, pledged to find another $250 million to fund their response. However, that’s $71 million less than officials say will be needed in 2024 alone.
However, there was no mention of Johnson – who snubbed the meeting – or the city’s potential to contribute funds, and Johnson was in denial mode about a rift between him and Pritzker when pressed about it at a conference. press release on Thursday.
“There are a number of issues that need to be resolved,” Johnson said of the city’s lack of funding.
Progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker appear to be fighting over the tens of millions of dollars they will both need to fund a solution to the city’s immigration crisis.
While he stated that he was still speaking with both Pritzker and Preckwinkle, he did say that there were differences between the three levels of government.
“It’s not just about financial resources,” Johnson said. “As I have said before, at this time the city of Chicago is solely responsible for providing temporary emergency shelter.”
Johnson then referred to a $65 million promise Pritzker had made late last year to winterize a camp that the state never kept.
He asked reporters: ‘Do you remember that the state committed to providing 2,000 beds in November? You remember?’
The mayor also admitted there were no guarantees the city would be able to keep shelters open and said the $250 million promised by Pritzker might not be enough.
Many in the city believe Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will “increase” the number of migrant buses sent to the city when it hosts the Democratic convention in August, according to the chicago tribune.
Johnson boldly stated that he is the right man to solve this problem.
‘No one in this city – let’s make it broader. No one in the state of Illinois, in this country, questions Mayor Brandon Johnson’s commitment to this mission. Nobody is.’
Pritzker pledged to find another $250 million to fund his response. However, that is $71 million less than officials say will be needed in 2024 alone.
The mayor also admitted there were no guarantees the city would be able to keep shelters open and said the $250 million promised by Pritzker may not be enough.
Many in the city believe Texas Governor Greg Abbott will “increase” the number of migrant buses sent to the city when it hosts the Democratic convention in August.
Pritzker, along with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, appeared to snub Johnson in his funding announcement.
A spokesman for Pritzker, however, seemed to indicate that there are indeed doubts.
“The governor has agreed to step up and cover more than half of this cost with $182 million,” said Pritzker spokesman Jordan Abudayyeh.
‘The borough president also stepped up to cover an additional $70 million. They will have to ask the city what its plans are for the remaining $70 million that all parties have agreed is needed to fund this humanitarian response.’
Shelters in converted warehouses in Chicago have been filled to the brim with newcomers living in poor conditions, prompting the city to take over other locations.
Johnson has insisted that the city would not open any more migrant shelters and called on Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to make good on his promises to build his own.
Mayor Johnson himself says the huge influx of immigrants is unsustainable, but he can’t turn them away because Chicago is a “sanctuary city.”
He blamed both the Biden Administration and Texas for his city having difficulty serving the approximately 15,000 asylum seekers. crammed into 28 shelters throughout the city.
Governor Abbott has sent more than 25,300 migrants to Chicago since August 2022, on buses.
A homeless tent is seen across Montrose Beach in Chicago
Migrants, with no place to stay when they arrive in the city, seek safe refuge inside the Chicago Police Department’s District 12 station
Chicago attempted to get them to designated locations during business hours and confiscated buses that did not follow these rules.
However, bus companies responded by dropping migrants up to 60 miles from Chicago, and Abbott began sending them on charter flights.
Conditions at Chicago migrant shelters have been under the microscope since five-year-old Jean Carlo Martínez Rivero died on December 17.
Johnson maintained that there was “no evidence that shelter conditions caused this young man’s death.”
Volunteers trying to help asylum seekers as best they can argue differently, presenting lists of concerns to city officials months before Jean’s death.
Photos and videos inside the shelter where he died showed 2,300 migrants crowded together in frigid temperatures under a leaky roof.
One video showed a boy with what appeared to be a bandage on his head lying on a thin folding bed, distracting himself with a tablet.
Another shows a different child coughing and crying while having his temperature taken and being examined by volunteers.
A third video showed water dripping from the ceiling and pooling on one of the beds.