More Than a Third of Chicago’s 2024 $538 Million Budget Shortfall Tied to Migrant Crisis

Chicago has spent over $100M to care for the illegals arriving in the city thanks to Joe Biden’s broken border.

Despite the millions in taxpayer dollars, the city remains so overwhelmed that migrants are being housed in police stations and turning O’Hare airport into a dangerous, filthy and unsanitary encampment.

And now, Chicago is facing a $538 million budget shortfall for 2024 with more than a third of that shortfall tied to Biden’s illegal crisis, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

The dramatically higher shortfall was revealed the same day the Council’s Budget Committee slapped another $33 million federal Band-Aid on the migrant crisis — enough to cover only a few months of past and future spending.

That 21-6 vote followed a 90-minute debate that showcased mounting tensions between the immediate need to care for the influx of asylum-seekers coming to Chicago and the demand to reduce the city’s existing homeless population.

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) called the $33 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security a “drop in the bucket” for a migrant crisis that will have cost Chicago taxpayers $255.7 million by year’s end. It will likely top $300 million after Johnson forges ahead with his plan to move more than 2,000 asylum-seekers from Chicago police stations and O’Hare and Midway airports into giant tent cities.

The shortfall comes at a time when Chicagoans are increasingly frustrated that the needs of illegals are placed ahead of city residents.

A recent community forum on Chicago’s South Side grew tense as residents expressed concerns over plans to turn a local hotel back into a migrant shelter.

Residents in the Woodlawn neighborhood took leaders to task about the dangerous conditions they face because of the shelter in their community.

And yet, despite the concerns of citizens, Mayor Johnson announced plans to continue to expand housing for illegals.

Crain’s Chicago Business reports, “Last week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson briefed the City Council on plans to erect tent camps to shelter migrants and disclosed that the city was on pace to spend over $300 million in 2023 on its care for migrants if the tents were put in place this year.”

The full budget is expected to be released Wednesday.

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