Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has quietly signed a $26 million contract with a security firm to build base camps for migrants as residents plead with the city’s Democratic leaders to stop allowing asylum seekers into the state.
The city’s contract with controversial firm Garda World, signed last week, covers at least six sites across the city, with zones housing between 200 and 1,400 asylum seekers. This also includes bed linen, laundry, showers, three meals a day and security.
Chicago residents are increasingly concerned about the flood of asylum seekers arriving on buses from the southern states. Many of the migrants were transported north from Republican border states, proving that open-arms Democrats’ policies are a disaster.
“I want to know if there is a capacity limit and what that limit is, if there is one?” a city resident asked at a community event this week. “And why can’t we close the borders of Chicago or the state of Illinois in the first place? Why can’t we close the border?”
Chicago has seen 13,000 migrants enter the city since August 2022, and that increase is expected to cost taxpayers $302 million by the end of the year.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has quietly signed a $26 million contract with a security firm to build base camps for migrants. Since August 2022, 11,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago
“I want to know if there is a capacity limit and what that limit is, if there is one?” a city resident asked at a community event this week
Residents are now begging local politicians to “close Chicago’s borders” to prevent illegals from entering Texas
96% of this neighborhood voted for Biden pic.twitter.com/WRkBZ4k67K
– End of Wakefulness (@EndWokeness) September 18, 2023
Councilman Ronnie Mosley blamed the federal government for allowing asylum seekers into the country and Texas, which he said “makes the decision to send them to Chicago.”
The contract calls for the company to provide “emergency logistics management and operational services, setting up housing…and providing other necessary services (also called a ‘base camp’ or ‘solution’)” for the new arrivals, as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
The migrant backlash is the latest debacle for Mayor Johnson, who took over from his disastrous predecessor Lori Lightfoot in May of this year. He is proving no more popular than them, with anger over his mansion tax, cutting taxes on businesses and proposals such as municipal supermarkets.
Earlier this month, Johnson announced that he plans to relocate about 1,600 migrants currently living in police stations or at O’Hare or Midway airports.
Garda World has faced backlash in the past over its projects in Denver, Texas and Florida. The company has previously provided services to migrants, including detention. The company was among the finalists for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plans to resettle migrants in Democratic-run cities.
Meanwhile, Mayor Johnson defended the deal with Garda World, arguing it was a way to accommodate the migrants who have been staying at police stations and the airport.
“Mayor Johnson’s first priority is to replace police stations with base camp housing,” Johnson’s office said in a statement. “Using this contract will allow the city to quickly establish base camps and move new arrivals from Chicago Police Department district stations more quickly when the weather begins to change.”
“As with all city-operated shelters, there will be a system in place for individuals to file complaints should problems arise.” Shelters will be used in accordance with American Red Cross standards, equipped with HVAC systems and designed to operate in cold weather Heated to a comfortable temperature.
“The base camps will be integrated into the city’s emergency shelter toolbox, providing a safe, short-term space with access to immediate care and resources.”
A migrant father from Venezuela changes his 15-month-old son’s diaper in the lobby of a police station
Mayor Johnson defended the deal with Garda World, arguing it was a way to accommodate the migrants who were previously staying in police stations and the airport
Hundreds of migrants are hidden behind this black curtain at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where asylum seekers report inhumane living conditions and their families are forced to sleep on the floor for up to 10 days
Chicago officials have said they will build tent shelters for migrants like those in New York City. Above are migrant camps set up on Randall’s Island in New York
The number of migrants needing shelter in Chicago has continued to rise in recent months, and city leaders have said they will follow New York’s lead and convert various locations around the city into shelters for migrants.
“We have identified several locations in the city that may be appropriate to provide constitutional and legal treatment to families and individuals who are here by law and seeking asylum and have a place that recognizes their dignity,” Johnson said.
Chicago officials have not yet indicated which sites they are considering, but according to City Councilwoman Maria Hadden, they will reportedly be military-grade, air-conditioned tents.
The former Halsted Indoor Mall parking lot at 115th and Halsted Streets could be one of the sites for a proposed tent camp, CBS Chicago reported. The space was intended to be converted into affordable housing, but is currently vacant
Last week, Democratic lawmakers from Chicago traveled to New York City to deliver lessons on how to deal with the influx of migrants in the Windy City.
Angry New Yorkers harassed Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was leading her visit, outside the iconic Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, which has become the center of the Big Apple’s migrant scandal.
Lawmakers were forced to cut short the press conference as the crowd kept drowning out Ocasio-Cortez.
“Close the border! Close border! Respect the Constitution AOC! I am your voter!’ A man shouted the congresswoman’s speech into a megaphone.
As Chicago’s refugee crisis continues to worsen, Mayor Johnson is also facing backlash over a proposed “mansion tax” on sales of homes worth more than $1 million, as his administration continues to impose higher taxes on single-income households of over $100,000.
The newly elected mayor wants to push for a tax increase to combat homelessness in the city.
Johnson believes that people who own $1 million in real estate in the nation’s third-largest city “are rich and should pay when they sell those homes.”
He also wants to create city-run grocery stores to promote “equitable” access to food after half of the city’s Walmart and Whole Foods stores closed.
Johnson’s new measures are intended to help “redress past harms that have led to targeted disinvestment and exclusion and lack of access to food” in historically underserved communities.
Meanwhile, the Windy City has seen an 86 percent increase in vehicle theft rates over the last year – from 42,512 reported incidents in 2022 to 54,983 so far this year.
Overall, this number has increased by 227 percent since 2019, when 35,711 vehicle thefts were reported.
Murder rates have also risen 19 percent over the past four years under the disastrous reign of Chicago’s last mayor, Lori Lightfoot, while robberies have risen 30 percent.