Chicago shifting migrant shelter operations to focus on homeless

[October 22, 2024]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The city of Chicago is shifting its shelter operations for non-citizen migrants to focus on all of the city’s unhoused residents. What to do with non-citizens already here is murky.

More than 50,000 non-citizen migrants have arrived in Chicago from the southern U.S. border since August 2022. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said things have slowed down.

“So we are now able to shift from a large scale crisis response to a more cost effective, equitable and strategic approach that addresses homelessness for all who need support,” Johnson said Monday.

The plan that started Monday will still cover non-citizen newcomers. The One System Initiative will be a unified sheltering system to serve all Chicagoans, the city said. The current New Arrivals mission will end Dec. 31, 2024.

“The transition from the current system and policies will begin October 21, 2024, through the end of the calendar year,” the city said. “This shift will focus on adding 3,800 beds to the 3,000 legacy [Department of Family and Support Services] beds in the homelessness services system in collaboration with State of Illinois partners and advocates.”

During questions, Johnson blamed Trump for issues around immigration for not supporting a bill promoted by Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s competition in the race for president.

“And he has worked to pit poor brown people against poor Black people, shame on him,” Johnson said. “You want to talk about a joker. It’s Donald Trump.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson
Chicago Mayor's Office | Facebook

At a campaign event in Pennsylvania Sunday, Trump said that bill was “a disaster.”

“It was a horrible bill,” Trump said. “It would have let people have immunity … millions of people would have been allowed to come in aimlessly.”

For non-citizens here illegally who are violent, Trump promised to begin deportation operations if he’s elected.

“We start with the murderers, we know who they are,” Trump said. “We want them out. We start with them. We start with the drug dealers. We start with the … terrorists. You got to get them out.”

Trump said if elected, his administration would work with local police and sheriffs to deport violent non-citizens. How that works in Illinois where state and local police are not allowed to assist in federal immigration enforcement is unclear.

State Rep. Paul Jacobs said Illinois’ sanctuary policies need to end.

“Don’t do a sanctuary state. We need to repeal a sanctuary state and get back to caring for our own,” Jacobs said Monday at an unrelated news conference.

Illinois has spent more than $1 billion of taxpayer funds on housing, food, legal services and subsidized health insurance for non-citizens in the state.

The election is Nov. 5. Early voting is underway.