Expect Chicago’s migrant crisis to intensify as Democratic National Convention nears: top mayoral aide

CHICAGO - Chicago could experience a fivefold increase in arriving migrants — up to 10 busloads a day — sent here by Republican governors trying to embarrass and strain Democratic sanctuary cities in the run-up to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, a top mayoral aide said Monday.

Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, predicted the burgeoning crisis that has seen over 13,000 migrants descend on the city over the last year will intensify the closer it gets to the Chicago convention next August.

Over the last week alone, the number of new arrivals sleeping on the floors of Chicago police stations has increased 6% — to 1,100 — even though Johnson has made it a priority to "decompress" police stations. Another 170 new arrivals have taken up residence at O’Hare International Airport.

There is $150 million in migrant funding that "the feds have not appropriated," and City Hall is "trying to make the case that we should be getting a large chunk of that because we have not closed our doors, and we are forecasting for next year with the DNC," Pacione-Zayas said.

"We have to plan for the increase. They’re gonna do everything they can because this is all political, and they want to make the case that Democratic-led cities are not capable of living up to the values that we have. … You know how it works in campaigns. That’s all that’s motivating this," the deputy chief of staff said.

"We’re already getting two buses a day.  … New York has been getting 10 buses" per day, she added. "I wouldn’t be surprised" if Chicago also started getting 10 per day.

"They want to stretch our resources. They want to basically topple our operation. Then they can make the case that Democratic-led states are not fit. That they’re incompetent. It draws the contrast. Then, they seem to come off in a way that they’re righteous and they’ve always said, ‘This is impossible work, and we have no business doing it.’"

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With 15 shelters housing 6,360 new arrivals, Chicago already spends upward of $20 million per month to house, feed, clothe and care for migrants. The $51 million in emergency funding approved by a divided City Council on May 31 carried the city only through June 30.

If Pacione-Zayas’ prediction is even remotely correct, Johnson will likely be forced to seek another supplemental appropriation to get through 2023 and even more migrant funding in the 2024 budget he is scheduled to present to the Council on Oct. 11.

But first, the city is trying to use state funding that "has to be spent by the end of the month" because it was appropriated in the fiscal year ending June 30, along with federal funding that has strings attached with "only certain things you can charge to them," she said.

A request for proposals from community-based providers aimed at reducing what Pacione-Zayas called "exorbitant" staffing costs is expected to land next week.

"The assumption is that we will not have to pay the premium for our more local community-based organizations and social service agencies. I do predict, though, that we will have to have some level of this contractual staffing from the current company or maybe even another one because it’s a 24-hour staffing cycle. And I just know, coming from a nonprofit world, you’re not likely to get second- and third-shift staff. We may need to supplement with some of these contractual staff that are used to these types of cycles," she said.

Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) volunteered the Gage Park field house, now being used to house 302 migrants.

Lopez said he believes Johnson will be forced to seek a supplemental appropriation or up to $160 million just to cover the cost of the migrant crisis through Dec. 31 — and seek $300 million more for next year.

"My colleagues said when the $51 million was asked that they’ll vote that now, but they’re not gonna vote for it again — which is why I believe that the administration’s only tool now will be to wait until the budget process begins and either include it as an amendment to the 2023 budget retroactively or include it in the management ordinance somehow so that they force aldermen to say, ‘yes,’" Lopez said.

The $51 million in emergency funding approved May 31 came from the opioid settlement.

Immigrants from Venezuela rest in the lobby of a police station where they have been staying with other migrant families since their arrival to the city on May 09, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. | Getty Images

Going forward, Lopez said he believes the "structural surplus built into the budget" through roughly 4,000 vacant positions that never get filled will be "redirected" to the care and feeding of migrants.

"Mayor Johnson needs to step up, stop worrying about his political future and focus on the city’s present, which is the fact that we now have over 13,000 individuals with limited support who are draining our coffers and threaten his agenda because every available dollar is being redirected toward them when it could go towards the services that he campaigned on wanting to provide to the city of Chicago," Lopez said.

Just last week, the city authorized a $500,000 contract with Maxim Healthcare Staffing Services for temporary staffing at its 15 migrant shelters.