Chicago voters confront mayor on migrant spending
Fox News’ Garrett Tenney reports on Chicago residents’ efforts to oust Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson over the migrant crisis.
Infuriated Black Chicagoans showed up in force at a City Council meeting on Wednesday to protest Mayor Brandon Johnson’s request for an additional $70 million in taxpayers' funds to be spent on tackling the city’s migrant crisis, while a petition that would give residents the right to recall the mayor is gathering serious traction.
The progressive mayor, who has vigorously defended the city’s sanctuary policies in the past, wants aldermen to greenlight the extra cash in a vote on Friday despite the Windy City having already poured $300 million into housing, food and health care for the recently arrived migrants, according to the city's latest numbers.
However, critics of the spending spree blasted the mayor during Wednesday’s gathering, where aldermen were initially expected to vote on rubber-stamping the new funds. Aldermen deferred the measure, using the council tactic to stall consideration.
CHICAGO MAYOR URGES BIDEN TO GRANT WORK PERMITS TO HALF MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
A Black woman wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cowboy hat blasted Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for his spending spree on migrants. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"We need that money in my neighborhood, we need that money on my block," railed one Black woman wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cowboy hat. "So I’m asking ya’ll to use our tax money for our people, we need it."
Another Black woman, donning a "No More Blue Go Red" top, issued a strong warning to aldermen.
"Vote for the money for these immigrants today and we coming for those seats, you can believe that," she said. "You better be worrying about your job, you better be worrying about your longevity because we gonna vote and we gonna getcha out, 'cause you ain’t doing right by us, that’s what time it is."
The $70 million, should the full City Council approve the proposal, will be drawn from the city’s assigned fund balance from 2022, Budget Director Annette Guzman said Monday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Johnson pinned the city’s financial woes on the federal government’s failure to come to its aid. City projections from late last year showed it on course to run deficits of up to $1.5 billion and $1.9 billion for 2025.
"We have what we have. We don’t have an inordinate amount of reserves," Johnson said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "This has been a strain on Chicago."
Nearly 40,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August 2022, according to the city’s "New Arrivals Situational Awareness Dashboard."
People hang around outside a migrant shelter in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago on March 13. (AP/Erin Hooley)
The progressive mayor’s handling of the migrant crisis and Chicago’s crime has frustrated some residents so much that they are now working to get Johnson recalled.
A group is currently laying the groundwork by gathering signatures for a ballot referendum to change state law, which currently does not allow for the recall of anyone except the governor.
Dan Boland, a former technology salesman, is leading the effort and says Johnson is not taking care of its citizens first.
"We can’t let Chicago circle the rim for another three years," Boland says. "We need to get out of this cycle and fix things… if [Johnson] can’t fix it, we need to get someone in there who can."
Johnson has dismissed the claims and says they are being organized by residents living in the suburbs. However, Boland laughed it off, telling Fox that he has lived in Chicago for 33 years and is an independent.
Dan Boland, a former technology salesman, is leading an effort for a ballot referendum to recall Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. (Fox News)
Boland’s petition drive needs to collect 56,464 valid signatures by Aug. 5 for the question to go on the ballot in November.
He says he has been inundated with support from people of all backgrounds.
"We've never had this opportunity to recall before and its very apparent based on the mayor's abilities right now, or lack of accountability, that this needs to be addressed," he added.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
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