Democrats are starting to turn on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson over his handling of the migrant crisis.
The WINdy City is struggling to care for the more than 34,000 asylum seekers brought in 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 migrants in its 28 shelters, and is fighting with the state of Illinois over where to build more.
Zerlina Smith-Members, a victim advocate and candidate for the Cook County Board of Commissioners, is a Democrat who is blowing the whistle on Johnson’s policies.
“We have people who came here illegally, who crossed the line,” said Smith-Members, who is considering leading a recall effort against Johnson.
The city of Chicago may have decided it has had enough of its role in the migrant crisis under progressive Mayor Brandon Johnson, while some Democrats hope to move away from its “sanctuary city” status
Chicago is struggling to care for more than 34,000 asylum seekers brought in from the border by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over the past 18 months
She lays the Windy City’s failure at the feet of Johnson, Illinois Democrat Governor JB Pritzker and President Joe Biden.
“It’s a Biden thing. It’s a Pritzker thing. It’s a Brandon Johnson thing. They wanted sanctuary cities,” Smith-Members said the National Review.
“It’s not Abbott’s fault because he didn’t ask for it. We asked for it.’ Smith-Members plans to lead the charge against Democrats like Johnson in an effort to launch a recall.
“There are divisions within our Democratic Party. It is weakened. It’s going to get worse,” Smith-Members said.
“The voters of the city of Chicago have woken up. Illinois voters have woken up. And they don’t support our old leadership.”
She added that if they don’t, “the immigration crisis will turn the state of Illinois purple.”
Illinois, the state that first elected Barack Obama to the Senate, has elected just one Republican governor and senator each since the turn of the century.
Zerlina Smith-Members, a victim advocate and candidate for the Cook County Board of Commissioners, is a Democrat willing to blow the whistle on Johnson’s policies
She lays the Windy City’s failure at the feet of Johnson, Democrat Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (pictured) and President Joe Biden
The city has spent $156 million on the crisis and still has 14,200 migrants in its 28 shelters, and is fighting with the state of Illinois over where more can be built.
No Democrat has been elected mayor of Chicago since William Thompson in 1927.
Shelters in converted warehouses in Chicago are filled to the brim with newcomers living in poor conditions, prompting the city to take over other sites.
Johnson has urged the city to stop opening migrant shelters and called on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to follow through on his promises to build his own shelters.
Southside activist Tio Hardiman says the city should focus on its less fortunate residents before dealing with migrants.
“The reality is that if you look at Chicago right now, you have high unemployment rates among African American youth in particular, you have a lack of mental health care in Chicago, you already had thousands of homeless people in Chicago that were never there, where we have ever focused on, just as they focus on the migrants,” he said.
“If I were mayor right now, I would make an executive order to end sanctuary city (status) in Chicago,” he added.
“I would give it up because we’re not ready for it.”
Mayor Johnson himself says the massive influx of migrants is unsustainable, but he can’t turn them away because Chicago is a “sanctuary city.”
A tent for the homeless can be seen across the street from Montrose Beach in Chicago
Migrants, who have no place to stay upon arrival in the city, seek safe shelter at the Chicago Police Department’s District 12 station
He blamed both the Biden administration and Texas for his city’s struggle to care for its roughly 15,000 asylum seekers. crammed into 28 shelters across the city.
Governor Abbott has bused more than 25,300 migrants to Chicago since August 2022.
Chicago tried to get them to arrive at designated locations during business hours and impounded buses that didn’t follow these rules.
However, bus companies responded by dropping off migrants as far as 60 miles from Chicago, and Abbott began sending them on charter flights.
Conditions in Chicago’s migrant shelters have been under scrutiny since five-year-old boy Jean Carlo Martinez Rivero died on December 17.
Johnson claimed there was “no evidence that the conditions of the shelter caused the death of this young boy.”
Volunteers trying to help the asylum seekers as best they can, submitting lists of concerns to city officials months before Jean’s death.
Photos and videos at the shelter where he died showed 2,300 migrants huddled under a leaky roof in freezing temperatures.
One video showed a young boy with what appeared to be a bandage around his head, lying on a thin folding bed while distracting himself with a tablet.
Another shows another child coughing and crying as their temperature is taken and examined by volunteers.
A third video showed water leaking from the roof and pooling on one of the beds.