Chicago's Brandon Johnson touts city being 'open' and 'accommodating' to illegal immigrants
Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson made the case that his city has been 'open and quite accommodating' to illegal immigrants in comparison to other blue cities.
Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson touted Chicago as being more "open and quite accommodating" to illegal immigrants compared to other blue cities while admitting that its position is "unsustainable."
During a press conference on Wednesday, Johnson was asked about the city's temporary shelter policy for migrants being bussed to Chicago from the southern border, stressing the reality of "restraints" of city resources.
That said, he appeared to take a victory lap over how generous Chicago has been versus his liberal counterparts.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson boasted how Chicago has been more "open" and "accommodating" compared to other blue cities. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"We're the only city in this country that has not put restraints," Johnson said. "Other places like Massachusetts, 7,500 beds, that's it. Billions of dollars for the entire state, Denver, New York, [Washington] D.C., Philadelphia, all of these places — and I have no judgment against them. This is the decision that they made in placing restraints. We have been open and quite accommodating during a very difficult moment in our nation's history."
"I'm proud of the work that our folks are providing on the frontlines, but this is unsustainable absent significant federal intervention. Whatever I do for this crisis, absent investment from the federal government, it's not sustainable," he added.
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Migrants from the southern border have overwhelmed Chicago in recent months. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Johnson took multiple shots at Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, blasting him for his "disturbing" and "iniquitous" behavior.
"Look, ya'll, this is some sickening stuff right here. To just put people on buses and just say ‘good luck.’ That's real jacked up," Johnson said. "That's the problem is that we have the governor of Texas who needs to find a soul."
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Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been praised by conservatives and attacked by liberals for bussing illegal immigrants to Democrat-controlled cities across the country. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Johnson also raised eyebrows during the press conference when he suggested that Trump supporters in Chicago were responsible for blocking a real estate tax hike referendum in Tuesday's election.
"It's also not lost on me, I think there were 38,000 Republicans that showed up and voted for Donald Trump, or something like that, in Chicago," Johnson said. "If we're trying to draw some conclusions, and you all want some other, you know, analytics you might want to discover, that might be something to look into because there's — I'll just say there's a good chance that that played a part in this referendum.
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"So the same people who want to see Donald Trump become [president again], those are the same voters who voted for him, are the same voters where, you look at there were more of those, they were concentrated there."
According to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners' website, there were roughly 37,000 total Republican primary voters who turned out for Tuesday's primary. Roughly 29,000 of those cast their ballot for former President Trump, who earned 78.5% support.