CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson insists that the city was “born ready” to host major events like next month’s Democratic National Convention, but the arrival of upwards of 25,000 immigrants and asylum seekers from the U.S. southern border could push that readiness to its limits.
As part of the final security preparations for the DNC, accommodations are being made for busloads of new arrivals who could fill the open beds that currently exist in Chicago’s 17 city-run shelters,
Johnson said this week that Chicago's shelter population hovers around 5,600 and that between city and state resources. Right now, it has the capacity to hold up to 15,000 additional immigrants. Yet, the city has not announced its plans should more migrants arrive than there is room for as the DNC, which would test the limits of the space allocated for new arrivals.
Chicago Deputy Mayor of Immigration Beatriz Ponce de León told aldermen this week that the city may need upwards of 25,000 beds based on recent border activity and comments made by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
A city spokesperson told NewsNation that the city does not anticipate 25,000 new arrivals during the DNC, but that the number cited by Ponce de León was hypothetical based on the peak of migrant arrivals.
Abbott told delegates that buses “will continue to roll” into sanctuary cities like Chicago until the border is secure. Since the summer of 2022, Abbott has sent nearly 37,000 migrants to Chicago, the governor's office said.
Johnson said Illinois and Cook County officials have partnered and have discussed what it would do should Abbott follow through with his plans to send more asylum-seekers.
Without addressing specific timing or numbers of arrivals that could be sent to Chicago, a spokesperson for Abbott told NewsNation that until President Joe Biden and "Border Czar" (Kamala) Harris "step up and do their jobs to secure the border", Texas will continue to send buses to sanctuary cities across the U.S., including Chicago, to provide relief to the state's border towns."
Chicago will 'brace for impact' of new arrivals ahead of DNC
An additional 25,000 new arrivals would dramatically increase the number of migrants who've arrived in Chicago from Texas since 2022. More than 45,000 asylum seekers have been sent to the city since that time, according to the city’s new arrival dashboard.
The number of migrants in shelters has dropped faster than anticipated since Johnson imposed a 60-day limit for shelter stays. Since Jan. 30, the shelter population has dropped by 60%, WTTW reported. The DNC arrivals could pose new challenges both from a capacity and financial standpoint.
WTTW reported that the number of migrants arriving in Chicago has increased by 30% since late January, but only by 3% since the end of June. At the peak of the migrant crisis in 2023, Chicago was seeing an estimated 2,000 asylum-seekers arrive each week, according to city data studied by WTTW.
However, should Abbott follow through with his plan to send more buses during the DNC, the city could face a shortfall of nearly $55 million by the end of the year as the city had allocated $422.3 million for operating 15,000 beds for migrants. The city has already spent nearly $185 million on new arrivals since late June, the WTTW report indicated.
The city spokesperson told NewsNation the city is prepared for "any number of possibilities" leading up to the DNC. Funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been applied for to cover the cost of the additional beds and the city is prepared to open emergency temporary Just-In-Time beds in the event additional capacity is required
"The City's goal is to host a historic convention where tens of thousands of visitors can experience all the amazing things that Chicago has to offer," the spokeperson said.
Ald. Andre Vasquez, who chairs the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told NewsNation that the city is doing its best to prepare for what could be coming next month.
“I think a lot of it is clearly unprecedented,” Vasquez told NewsNation. “I think the city has learned a lot based on what the experience has been. But that being said, I think you kind of have to brace for impact depending on how many folks are sent and in what amount of time they’re being sent.”
Vasquez understands that the process for new arrivals would remain the same. Those being sent to Chicago from the border are first sent to the city’s landing zone, where they are processed and assigned housing in city shelters as well as provided with health screenings.
New families arriving in Chicago would take priority for housing, Vasquez said, followed by existing families currently in the system then single new arrivals who arrive next month, and finally, single individuals currently awaiting shelter.
Migrant population driving homelessness growth in Chicago
As of Thursday, only 21 immigrants and asylum-seekers are awaiting housing, city data shows. However, because 40% of those who are evicted from shelters after 60 days go untracked, Vasquez said that the city’s homeless population has grown.
An uptick in DNC new arrivals will come during a week that could bring 50,000 visitors, 20,000 members of the media, and 5,500 delegates for the convention at the United Center and McCormick Place.
Vasquez said the attempt to hide an issue like homelessness doesn’t diminish the issue and doesn’t treat people with proper levels of respect.
Brandie Knazze, the commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services, told the Chicago Sun-Times that 22 people who have been living about two dozen tents near the Dan Ryan Expressway, will be moved to a city-run shelter. The city closed down and cordoned off the tent city this week, the newspaper reported.
However, city officials needing to cope with potentially tens of thousands of new asylum-seekers would add a wrinkle to the city’s plans.
“It becomes increasingly challenging for anyone under the best circumstances to navigate,” Vasquez said.
He added: “I think you’ve got to rely on things that you’ve learned and really try to anticipate what that looks like scaled up to an unprecedented degree.”
Abbott: 'I took the border to them'
Johnson and other Illinois Democrats have been critical of what they say is Abbott’s politicization of the migrant crisis, especially when it comes to sanctuary cities like Denver, Chicago, Washington, and New York.
The Chicago mayor, who has called Abbott’s actions reckless and dangerous in the past, said this week that he hopes Abbott “finds Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior” and doesn’t send more asylum-seekers.
A spokesman for Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker, a Democrat, told NewsNation this week that the decision to send more asylum seekers to Chicago during next month’s DNC is "political grandstanding."
“Illinois continues to humanely provide shelter and services to new arrivals, just as we also continue to call for Republicans in Congress to move beyond empty rhetoric and actually work with President Biden to pass meaningful immigration reform,” Alex Gough, the governor’s spokesman, said.
Abbott, a Republican, criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for refusing to visit the southern border crisis “they created” and added, “I took the border to them.”
“When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris refused to even come to Texas and to see the border crisis that they created, I took the border to them,” he told RNC conventioneers at Fiserv Forum. “I began bussing illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C. And we have continued bussing migrants to sanctuary cities across the entire country, and those busses will continue to roll until we finally secure our border.”