Chicago residents of color flocked to the city council meeting this week to voice their disapproval of the city’s proposal to spend $51 million supporting migrants in their city.
Much to the dismay of the city’s black population, the Chicago City Council finally decided to accept the $51 million funds for migrants by a vote of 34–13. The cash, which is anticipated to run through June, was announced as a tide of migrants is flooding into the sanctuary city as a result of President Biden’s border crisis.
Over 10,000 migrants are said to have entered Chicago since August.
At a news conference conducted before the city council vote, leaders of the Chicago Republicans and representatives of the Black Community Collaborative along with the Neighborhood Network Alliance pleaded with the council to turn down the $51 million proposal.
Steve Boulton, the chairman of the Chicago GOP, said, “We have no idea where the funding is coming from. No one has disclosed how that money would be used. How it is being spent is kept a secret from us. The City Council is acting irresponsibly by allocating funds that are only a band-aid solution that will only help us for a few weeks or months before the issue returns.”
Black folks opposed to the city’s proposal claimed that money should be diverted first to assist Chicagoans.
Caroline Ruff, a Black Lives Matter Women of Faith member, spoke before the city council:
“I am aware of the $51 million up for vote today, and I urge the alderman to reject it. Why? For starters, we haven’t opened the schools to the homeless, who we see every day on the streets. I also see to it that they are fed and clothed. We must care for our neighborhood, especially for the Black community, and we must establish these mental health schools.”
Ruff said, “Enough is enough. We have not received anything for our neighborhood, and we’re so sick and tired of it.”
Smith pleaded with the municipal council to opt for the approval of a reparations scheme for Black Americans.
Smith criticized newly-installed Mayor Brandon Johnson’s (D) decision to give migrants $51 million, saying, “How dare this mayor, as well as the council of this city, have the guts to do such a thing. I demand that you enact the Reparations Ordinance for the City of Chicago with the same fervor and haste and that you also give us a position for black Americans, just as the new Americans.”
“Neither the luxury nor the chance existed for us to cross the border. We were not allowed to cross the border,” Smith remarked. “You pay migrants $51 million? We were tied to the bottom of ships, raped, stolen from, and assaulted to get here. Do you still remember who you are?”
The decision to invest $51 million in immigrant resources occurred the same week that Mayor Johnson, in defiance of local citizens, overflowed Wilbur Wright College with over 300 immigrants.
Residents of Chicago have demonstrated against the city’s support for migrants in the weeks preceding up to and after Johnson’s inauguration on May 15.
Johnson reiterated his support for immigrants in his inauguration speech.
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