Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) flip-flopped on Monday, calling off a planned trip to the southern border.
Citing the need to “address the immediate urgency of adding shelter space to house thousands of new arrivals currently sleeping in police stations, airports or outside,” the left-wing mayor is sending an aide instead, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Johnson will send Beatriz Ponce de Leon, deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant and refugee rights — talk about big government — in his place. Ponce de Leon will lead a small delegation to explore El Paso, San Antonio, McAllen and Brownsville, cities that are the primary points of departure for migrants traveling to Chicago by bus and air, according to the Sun-Times.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has taken a lot of well-deserved heat for talking a good game while doing little to stop millions of foreign invaders from flooding into the U.S., but the smartest thing he has done is to start bussing these “migrants” to Democrat-run sanctuary cities that essentially serve as a beacon to entice illegal immigrants. That decision alone has transformed a border crisis routinely ignored by the legacy media into a national problem that must be covered.
Chicago has received 18,500 illegal immigrants the Sun-Times refers to as “asylum-seekers,” with more than 3,500 sleeping on the floors of police stations and O’Hare International Airport.
Behind the Democrat curtain at Chicago O’Hare airport. Hundreds of migrants living in filthy conditions.
This is what progressive politics look like. This is what happens when you give idiots like Lori Lightfoot and Eric Adams a teaspoon of power. pic.twitter.com/qKFUXtTHQK
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 8, 2023
O’Hare International Airport in Chicago is overflowing with migrants.
Behind the black curtains are more migrants. What once was a huge hallway is cut down to make space for them.
Every state is a border state now. pic.twitter.com/MMaCJ0Nepa
— Shadow Governor Vos (@Robin_Vos_Stan) October 7, 2023
Johnson’s deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas said the mayor, who was taking fire over the trip, decided it was more pressing to stay in Chicago and deal with the crisis as winter closes in.
“The fact that we don’t have any beds coming online in mass quantity, and people are literally being sent to sleep outside,” Pacione-Zayas told the newspaper. “And he needs to stay back, closely monitor, and try to solve for this issue of not having enough shelter and people going straight to the ground.”
“We want to try to see what kind of contingency plan we can put in place while we’re waiting for our brick-and-mortars,” she said, “and also the evaluation of land in terms of the base camps.”
Pacione-Zayas, who will be part of the delegation going to Texas, said the arrival of more single adults (male) in the city will require “some reconfiguration of spaces,” as well.
Earlier this month, the Democratic mayor was adamant about helping the “asylum seekers,” insisting that he is compelled to do so by “international law.”
“You know, this is a global crisis. The policies that are impacting population-ships across the globe is affecting us all,” Johnson told reporters. “These are asylum seekers. These are not illegal people. The moment they step ground on American soil, they are officially protected by international law.”
As for Johnson’s handling of the crisis, he earmarked just $150 million to deal with the influx of foreign nationals in 2024 and Chicago is already spending more than $30 million a month — keep in mind, for Democrats seeking to force demographic change in America handling the crisis means a more efficient means of accepting them into American society NOT stopping the flow.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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