Chicago Mayor Tells Residents to Make ‘Sacrifices’ to Benefit Illegal Immigrants

By: Harold Hutchison, Daily Caller News Foundation

Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago called on city residents to make “sacrifices” to address the thousands of migrants in the city who need shelter.

Johnson announced plans to move 1,600 migrants currently being sheltered in police stations to tent cities, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Residents protested and took legal action to prevent Chicago from housing migrants in a closed-down high school and two other locations on the South Side of the city in May, ABC7Chicago.com reported.

As Chicago residents continue to be upset over the border crisis directly impacting them, Mayor Brandon Johnson said even more "sacrifices" will have to be made to live up to being a sanctuary city. pic.twitter.com/WZJqqUGwCm
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 8, 2023

“There is a sacrifice that is going to be required in this moment … The sacrifices that we are prepared to make in order to ensure that this city is not chaotic and it is not riddled with desperate people,” the mayor told the Sun-Times.

Johnson also took issue with Democratic Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, who said the flood of migrants could “destroy” the city Thursday.

“I’m not going to accept the notion that the city of Chicago is going to be destroyed,” Johnson told the Sun-Times. “We are a city of big shoulders. We’ve been through difficult moments and challenges before. And we’re gonna get to the other side of this.”

“These families are coming to the city of Chicago … If we do not create an infrastructure where we’re able to support, and quite frankly, contain these individuals who have experienced a great deal of harm, individuals who are desperate — if we do not provide support for these individuals and these families, that type of desperation will lead to chaos,” Johnson added.

Over 1.93 million illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2023, according to data released by United States Customs and Border Protection, following 2,378,944 encounters in fiscal year 2022 and 1,734,686 in fiscal year 2021. Fox News reported another 600,000 migrants evaded CBP in fiscal year 2022.

Republican Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona began busing migrants to New York City and other so-called “sanctuary” cities in 2022.