In 1985, Chicago first declared itself a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. In 2006, it enshrined those protections under the Welcoming City Ordinance. Now, in 2024, the city is kicking illegal immigrants out on the streets as the winter weather rolls in.
Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that Chicago would be merging the shelter system for illegal immigrants with the city’s homeless shelter system. As a result, only illegal immigrants who have been in the country for less than a month will be eligible to be placed in the “new arrivals” shelters in Chicago. Among them, only those who are sick, pregnant, or disabled will be eligible for extensions until the new year begins.
Those who don’t fit that criteria will not be guaranteed shelter for at least two months, leaving them out in the cold for November and December, when temperatures average 28 F in Chicago. Once Jan. 1, 2025, hits, no illegal immigrants, even those in the aforementioned protected categories, will be eligible for extensions.
Nothing quite says “Welcoming City,” like kicking pregnant women and the disabled out of shelters into frigid January and February nights.
That “welcoming” attitude has run into the fact that Chicago is failing, and the residents who remain don’t enjoy seeing illegal immigrants given priority over them. Johnson has been begging the federal government to give Chicago more money — lest he have to make budget cuts so he could use Chicago taxpayer dollars on people who shouldn’t be in the country. It’s better that he makes taxpayers who don’t live in Chicago pay for it instead.
This is much the same predicament. Prioritizing illegal immigrants for shelters rather than local homeless Chicagoans is another of those political landmines. According to Johnson in March 2023, “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.”
Evidently, though, there is not enough space in the shelters. Longtime Chicagoans were losing so the new arrivals could gain, and now Johnson has to flip that dynamic.
All of this is still nothing but rearranging shelter beds on the Titanic, though. Chicago, under Johnson, may not be living up to the spirit of its “welcoming city” declaration, but the city still refuses to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and continues to encourage illegal immigrants to flock to Chicago with promises of protection and privileges.
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The message, “Come to Chicago, we want you here, but don’t stay too long and, in fact, please sleep in the cold,” is a bit confusing. Still, illegal immigrants are only being told that Chicago is a sanctuary and “welcoming,” and not how Johnson undermines those principles to try and salvage some approval points. In other words, Johnson is using those illegal immigrants as political pawns, exploiting them to pander to both left-wing sanctuary activists and people who are upset that they are afterthoughts to people who entered the country illegally.
If Chicago decided to stop its sanctuary stunt, perhaps it wouldn’t be dealing with any of these problems. Until then, welcome to the Windy City, illegal immigrants. Johnson hopes you enjoy the cold sidewalks this winter.