Chicago is going to force illegal immigrants out into the cold. Where is the humanity, Mayor Brandon Johnson?
Johnson is preparing to evict illegal immigrants from shelters on Feb. 1, saying, “The flow of migrants that are coming into the city of Chicago and the flow to exit has not kept up.” In other words, Johnson wants Chicago to be getting rid of as many illegal immigrants as it is taking in, and he has punted the expansion of shelter construction to the state, wanting shelters to be built outside of Chicago.
This is not the Chicago way, we have been assured. We were told that “Chicago must lead with and live by the promise to be a sanctuary city.” Chicagoans were assured that “there’s enough space at the table for all of us to sit and eat.” No one has to “lose for new arrivals to gain.” Aren’t all immigrants welcome in Chicago, Mayor Johnson? That is what you told everyone 10 months ago.
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Chicago must lead with and live by the promise to be a sanctuary city.
Longtime Chicagoans don’t have to lose for new arrivals to gain — there’s enough space at the table for all of us to sit and eat.
Immigrants are welcome here.
— Brandon Johnson (@Brandon4Chicago) March 11, 2023
Johnson’s decision is unbecoming of a sanctuary city, though there are some questions about just how long the city will retain that label. A plurality of Chicago residents (46%) no longer want the city to be a sanctuary city. The Chicago City Council is so worried voters will rebel against sanctuary status that it torpedoed a referendum that would have let the voters decide it for themselves. Instead, Democrats like Johnson want the city to remain a sanctuary city, just without all of the responsibility or any of the work that a sanctuary city would have to actually do.
For Johnson, the cruelty is the point. He, and Chicago Democrats, never wanted to actually accept or care for illegal immigrants. They wanted the city to be a sanctuary so they could shame Republicans in immigration debates and pitch themselves to voters as the candidates of empathy. They still want that political cudgel, but now they need to run off all those illegal immigrants who are straining the city’s resources. Johnson and his ilk do not see these illegal immigrants as people who need help. They see them as nuisances who are only useful as political weapons.