Chicago’s woke Mayor Brandon Johnson blames his predecessor Lori Lightfoot and ‘right wing extremism’ for Windy City’s decline amid crime and migrant crisis

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson claims he “inherited” the city’s growing migrant crisis and lashed out at former Gov. Lori Lightfoot.

Johnson criticized Lightfoot’s government during a news conference held Tuesday to announce the Unity Initiative, an interfaith partnership aimed at moving sleeping migrants from police stations into shelters.

Johnson told reporters that because of the international crisis that I inherited six months ago, I made it very clear that we are going to take people out of police districts, women and children who live on floors and sleep outside. create spaces that offer more dignity.”

Windy City has come under pressure after the city was flooded by 20,000 migrants in the past fourteen months, causing a crisis. Many were bused north from the southern border, which was overrun by migrants crossing from Mexico.

In Chicago, thousands of asylum seekers are staying in police stations and airports because the local government has run out of space to house them.

Mayor Brandon Johnson claims he ‘inherited’ the city’s spiraling migrant crisis during a press conference announcing a new initiative to tackle the problem

Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot (pictured) was heavily criticized for her tenure, four years dominated by rising crime, war with teachers unions and police and battles with the City Council

Migrants have been forced to shelter on the floors of Chicago police stations or at O’Hare International Airport (photo)

“Did you know that when I was sworn in in May, the previous city council had not allocated a budget for the 2023 migrant mission,” the controversial mayor told the press.

“So not only did we mobilize the full force of government in a concerted manner, we did it without the previous council even providing resources for it.”

Lightfoot was heavily criticized for her tenure, four years dominated by rising crime, war with teachers unions and police and battles with the City Council.

Under her watch, crime rose 42 percent and the city’s police force complained of staffing shortages and low morale: In May 2021, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police issued a symbolic vote of no confidence in Lightfoot.

Mayor Johnson also blamed the “far right” for Chicago’s ills during Tuesday’s press conference.

“What we have seen is a very ragged form of right-wing extremism,” said the awakened mayor. “Everyone knows that right-wing extremism in this country has targeted democratically governed cities, and frankly, they have been very intentional about going after democratically governed cities that are led by people of color.”

“The intention is to create division and chaos, because that is what that particular political party stands for.

Migrants seek shelter at the Chicago Police Department’s 8th District station, another repurposed site used as a shelter for many of the city’s more than 15,000 migrants

Migrants have been transported to the city over the past fourteen months. Mayor Brandon Johnson said Wednesday that as many as 22 busloads could arrive daily in the future

More than 17,000 migrants have arrived in the Windy City since August 2022, with more than 10,000 in shelters and nearly 3,200 in police stations.

‘It is the same party that would not accept that President Obama was actually an American. It is the same Republican right-wing extremism that stormed the capital, it is the same right-wing extremism that refuses to accept the results of the civil war. It’s shabby, disrespectful, mean-spirited.”

“It’s appalling and it’s an insult to everything that is good about this country for the extremism in this country to use people as political tools to settle political scores for something that happened over 400 years ago. They are still angry that a black man is free in this country.

He added, “Aren’t you glad the soul of Chicago isn’t broken. Those are the words of Beyoncé, you will not break our souls’

Tensions have risen in Chicago as local authorities have failed to tackle the migrant crisis.

Recently, angry protesters stormed a Chicago City Council meeting during a debate over whether the city should remain a haven for migrants.

Hundreds have protested the city’s plan to turn the Amundsen Park Fieldhouse into an emergency shelter for about 200 asylum seekers.

Residents, mostly African-Americans, flooded the gallery with some waving signs that read, “The RENT is too damn HIGH!” and “BRING CHICAGO HOME.”

The meeting was called after 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale — who oversees a district on the predominantly black South Side — proposed an advisory referendum that would ask voters during the March primary whether Chicago should retain its sanctuary city status .

Many residents expressed frustration over the millions of dollars the city spent on migrant shelters instead of poor communities.

As of September, there were about 20 active migrant shelters in the city. Seven were located on the historically underserved south and west sides.

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