As the crisis at the southern border continues and anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants and migrants flow across it every day, those cities in America that accept the illegal immigrants are starting to be overwhelmed by their massive numbers, facing the same situation inflicted upon border states like Texas. One such city is Chicago, the mayor of which, Brandon Johnson, recently warned that the city is on the verge of collapse thanks to the flood tide of illegal immigrants.
Speaking on the matter, Mayor Johnson said that Chicago’s public services are already overstressed and are on the verge of the breaking point thanks to the massive surge of illegal immigrants into the city, with the strain growing far worse as the problem has picked up.
He said, “The public good is already stressed, whether it’s our transportation system, our health care system, our education system. All of these systems are already stretched to meet the demands of families who had been here. You know, over the past seven months it’s been an incredible an incredible strain on every aspect of of city services.”
Johnson also noted, in his comments on the matter, that the city has already spent $138 million on dealing with the crisis and that the amount that will be needed to be spent will surge as the city’s winter grows colder. Further, he noted that there are already about 15,000 migrants stuffed into 27 city shelters after being bussed to Chicago from Texas.
Announcing the latest round of buses to blue cities and how many migrants will be sent to each, Gov. Abbott said(punctuation added for ease of reading), “Texas will bus migrants to sanctuary cities until Biden secures the border. Over 12,500 to DC, Over 25,000 to New York City, Over 20,000 to Chicago, Over 3,200 to Philadelphia, Over 7,400 to Denver, Over 1,100 to Los Angeles. Our mission provides vital relief to border towns.”
Mayor Johnson isn’t alone in warning about the situation. For example, New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently spoke out about the same issue and said a growing coalition of cities is frustrated with the current state of things. He also argued that America’s cities should not have to bear the brunt of the financial consequences of a federal issue.
Speaking on that, he said, “And I’m really pleased that we are now getting a chorus of other cities that are joining us, who are now part of our coalition. Back in April of last year, I was alone on this topic. But now you’re seeing others are coming forward and saying, you know, ‘hold on, Eric is right.’ And they’re joining us in a coalition is going to continue to grow because the cities deserve better.”
Continuing, he emphasized the broad scope of the issue and cities interested in ending the issue rather than bearing the brunt of the consequences of the Biden border, saying, “And I’m not only talking about New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. El Paso, Brownsville, you know, all of these cities, Houston, no cities should not be handling national problems.”
Watch Mayor Johnson of Chicago discuss the issue here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video