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According to the letter obtained by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago
Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a letter to Chicago area lawmakers to
get the Illinois General Assembly to allocate $53.5 million to
help care for the migrants.
In the letter, Lightfoot requested funding for "emergency
services" and asked for the funding to be approved "before the
102 General Assembly adjourns," which would be on Jan. 10.
State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Tuetopolis, was in Springfield for a
lame-duck session and told The Center Square that Lightfoot and
the city need to use its own funding.
"I would ask Mayor Lightfoot why she has not allocated certain
monies from her own budget for the city of Chicago, since she is
a sanctuary city, to forecast this migrant surge or illegal
immigrant surge," Niemerg said.
Maggie Rivera of the Illinois Migrant Council told The Center
Square in October what kind of resources are needed now that the
migrants have arrived.
"They need food, and another thing is clothes," Rivera said.
"Most of these people have arrived on a bus after a long trip
and only have one or two changes."
Without funding and help from state government, Lightfoot
suggested the city will not have enough money to support any of
the migrants past Feb. 1. Niemerg said Lightfoot needs to solve
her own problems.
"I am very open to legal immigration but the way we see it now
is completely unacceptable," Niemerg said. "I would say to the
mayor, find your own money for your problems and do not come to
the state."
Lightfoot said the state had seen an uptick in migrants from
Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua.
Andrew Hensel reports on issues in Chicago and
Statewide. He has been with The Center Square News since April
of 2021 and was previously with The Joliet Slammers.
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