(The Center Square) – As the influx of migrants continues into 2024, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson seem to be on two different pages regarding shelter for the arrivals.
Chicago, a sanctuary city, has reported 30,000 migrant arrivals over the last year and a half since.
The influx has lead to increased spending and other resources being needed. The taxpayer funds have gone to shelters and services for the migrants, which includes a $29 million contract with GardaWorld Federal Services to help put shelters together, but some shelters have fallen through.
On Monday, Pritzker provided an update on the situation and called for better communication from Chicago officials.
“I am deeply concerned. We do not have enough shelter as it is in Chicago,” Pritzker said. “The city has not told the state where they would like us to put our resources to build or help them build new shelters.”
Pritzker says the problem will not go away as the weather warms up, increasing the need for shelter.
“We can’t help if they [the city] does not identify locations,” Pritzker said. “We need to make sure that we are not ending shelter capacity as the city is now planning to do, at the end of winter.”
Last month, Pritzker was asked about what sort of assistance the state could give the city but was still waiting to give a definite answer due to the nonstop influx.
“We do not know from day to day literally how many people are going to be arriving because the governor of Texas and border politicians genuinely are making political decisions daily about what they want to do,” Pritzker said.
City and state taxpayer funds for the crisis have totaled nearly $700 million in the past year.
