It was only recently that Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that she needed money to support migrants that were bussed in from Texas. She recently announced the City of Chicago needed $53.5 million to support the recently arrived migrants.
The state of Illinois basically told her no.
Illinois responded Mayor Lightfoot was given $120 million to support the migrant effort.
“Agencies ‘have exhausted all available fiscal resources for the operation of the asylum seeker mission’”.
The state created a special website link for migrants who have arrived. This includes housing, child care, school, food, mental health, medical and legal support.
Governor J.B. Pritzker said:
"Every family, every child, every human being deserves to feel safe and secure in the place they call home. I am committed to making sure that value defines what it means to live in Illinois."
According to Fox 32, Mayor Lightfoot said she needs to find the 53 million by the end of January or they won’t be able to support migrants anymore.
Chicago has received about 6,000 migrants who crossed the southern border into Texas. They were bused to the city by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Mayor Oscar Leeser from El Paso, Texas beginning in September.
Mayor Lightfoot and the services in Chicago were overwhelmed to support the new arrivals. Some migrants were bused to neighboring towns and Chicago is planning to use the vacant Woodlawn Elementary School.
Then the situation is likely to get worse for Mayor Lightfoot as another Democratic state plans to send migrants to the city. New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently mentioned that Colorado was sending migrants to New York and Chicago.
This is not good news for Mayor Lightfoot as she starts off 2023 with big issues that she needs to solve.
What would you do if you were Mayor Lightfoot to solve this issue?