A black Chicago resident was filmed berating Mayor Brandon Johnson over the city's current status as a “sanctuary” for migrants and progressives' failure to allocate funds to more vulnerable communities.
The exchange was recorded at Thursday's special meeting of the Chicago City Council, which discussed whether residents will be asked to vote on a referendum on the city's sanctuary status next year.
This comes after the city spent nearly $1 million building a refugee camp that was demolished this month and about 26,000 migrants have come to the city since last year.
The meeting was therefore full of debate and sparked a heated statement from Lauren Lawrence, a woman who described herself as being born and raised in Chicago.
As Johnson stood at attention at his podium, Lawrence lamented that she had witnessed a “transition” that was failing citizens – “as if many people here were unimportant.”
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A Chicago resident was filmed berating Mayor Brandon Johnson over the city's current status as a “sanctuary” for migrants and politicians' failure to provide funding for inner-city communities
As Johnson stood at attention at his podium, Lawrence lamented that she had witnessed a “transition” that had failed citizens – “as if many people here were unimportant.”
“I’m not for the sanctuary city,” she began, before lashing out at the relatively new mayor after a disastrous four years under Lori Lightfoot.
“And the reason I’m not in favor of the sanctuary city,” she continued, “is because people have been waiting years to come here legally.”
She pointed to the mass of arrivals and the more than 13,000 migrants currently held in Chicago's shelter system and called on city officials to pick up where Lightfoot left off.
“These buses not only transport them, but they drop them off in our neighborhood,” she said of asylum seekers bused into Illinois’ largest city.
She cited the recent rise in crime in the city and claimed that she “almost got caught multiple times when she managed to land.” [to the meeting] Today.
“This is ridiculous,” she continued, before pointing to an alleged double standard brought on by the city’s current migrant crisis, which has cost taxpayers $250 million this year alone.
“There shouldn’t be two laws.”
Lawrence then turned her attention to Chicago's notorious downtown, which she said has been hit particularly hard by the city's sanctuary status.
She claimed that Johnson — who grew up in suburban Cook County and spent the last four years there as commissioner — had failed those predominantly Black communities by continuing Lightfoot's leadership.
“I'm not for the sanctuary city,” she began, before mocking the relatively new mayor, elected in May after a disastrous four years under Lori Lightfoot – seen with Johnson in May when he succeeded her
The exchange comes after the city spent nearly $1 million building a refugee camp that was demolished this month, and as more than 26,000 migrants have come to Chicago since last year
The plan was only abandoned on December 5, despite earlier warnings that the site was unsafe because toxic chemicals and heavy metals had been found there
“The West Side and South Side black communities are targeted for funding — I’ve never seen that,” Lawrence said of what she called a misallocation of city funds.
“We are still waiting for these funds to flow into these communities.”
Then she turned her attention to Johnson, who, after emerging as an unknown from the crowd of competitive candidates this year, made waves with a lofty plan to reallocate law enforcement money to other services such as housing and education.
“Brandon Johnson, a lot of people stood behind you,” Lawrence began, just before an angry crowd ended the regulatory committee meeting, which had originally been called to gather citizens’ opinions on the migrant situation.
“You feel disappointed because the day you took office, which I believe was May 15, you had already signed an executive order,” she continued, citing a day one executive order from Johnson that appointed a “Deputy Mayor for Immigrants, Migrants and Other Refugee Rights.”
The guidelines direct all city officials to follow the instructions of the first immigrant mayor, Beatriz Ponce De León, “to ensure the effectiveness of Chicago’s status as a welcoming and sanctuary city.”
She pointed to the mass of arrivals and the more than 13,000 migrants currently held in Chicago's shelter system and called on city officials to pick up where Lightfoot left off
Seven months into the new mayor's term, the city is still grappling with how to handle the increasing influx of asylum seekers. Johnson warned in October that 22 busloads a day would likely be the new norm
More than five months after her appointment, the city is still grappling with how to handle the increasing influx of asylum seekers. Johnson warned in October that 22 busloads a day would likely be the new norm.
Only last week it was revealed that the situation was originally intended, when records showed the city spent almost a million on the closed migrant camp at a property in Brighton Park – despite warnings that the site was unsafe after toxic chemicals were used there and heavy metals were found.
The cost of the demolished camp was largely funded by the state government and was to be covered through a $125 million contract with a private contractor.
The official spending records, first released by CBS, were revealed just days after a 5-year-old boy was pronounced dead in one of Chicago's flimsy shelters – a warehouse without heat that housed thousands of other migrants.
Videos from inside have since shown coughing and crying children, some so cold they wore snow jackets, while water dripped from the ceiling onto the cots below.
The property is operated by Favorite Healthcare Staffing, a Kansas-based contractor. The city has paid $100 million to operate shelters since September 2022 – as more than 300 migrants continue to live in police stations awaiting placement in a facility.
The death of the child, identified by community members as Jean Carlo Martínez Rivero, is under investigation after an autopsy by the Cook County medical examiner on Monday was inconclusive.
Jean Carlos Martinez, 5, was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital Sunday after being sick for days at the Pilsen animal shelter south of downtown Chicago
A video taken by a passerby showed trash piling up outside the shelter. The converted factory was the subject of numerous complaints about unsanitary conditions
At another meeting Monday, where Johnson was also pressured, the former teachers said the blame for Jean's death lay squarely with Southern governors like Gregg Abbott of Texas, who bused thousands of migrants to the so-called sanctuary city .
“They just drop people off somewhere,” Johnson argued, days after the migrant meeting at which Lawrence spoke was canceled amid a barrage of criticism.
“Understand how seedy and how evil this is,” he continued of the Southern practices that have essentially given cities like Chicago long-touted “sanctuary” status.
“And then you want to hold us responsible for something that happens down at the border? It's disgusting?' he said, before claiming that many of the asylum seekers arriving in Chicago are doing poorly because of detention conditions at the border.
'Do you hear me? “They appear sick,” he said of those arriving on buses.
“The issue is not just how we respond in the city of Chicago, but the fact that we have a governor — a governor, an elected official in the state of Texas — who is putting families on buses with no shoes, cold, wet and tired .”, hungry, afraid, traumatized.
“And then they come to the city of Chicago, where we have homeless people, we have psychiatric hospitals that have been closed and shut down,” he continued.
“The governor of Texas needs to take a look in the mirror.” [and see] the chaos he is causing for this country.
He claimed it was “not just a Chicago dynamic” and claimed that men like Abbott were “attacking our country.”
Videos from inside the Pilsen shelter (pictured) showed coughing and crying children, some so cold they were wearing snow jackets, and water dripping from the ceiling onto the cots below
O'Hare International Airport housed hundreds of migrants in a restricted area as the crisis gained momentum this summer
On Thursday, Lawrence questioned whether Johnson was following Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's direction in his attempts to address the crisis or whether he was actually ignoring vulnerable communities in favor of the constant influx of migrants.
“Whether it came from Governor Pritzker or whoever directed you to do this, is it fair to these communities that have waited for years?” she said.
Lawrence brought up promises Johnson made during his riot campaign – including that public safety would remain the city's top concern even in the face of the migrant situation – and noted that crime remains a problem across Chicago .
“You said you were on the west side, but you should also know what's going on there,” Lawrence said.
“When will our neighborhoods be cleaned up?” And when will we get the rights we deserve?'
She further clarified: “I am not against anyone coming here legally.” I want to make that clear. But for those who have not, they are not superior to us. They don't precede us. We are not last.'
Lawrence went on to mention the long list of legitimate Chicagoans who she said were also in need, including veterans, homeless people and average citizens, before officials called off the meeting because the crowd was becoming rowdy and reportedly unruly
The decision was criticized by councilor Anthony Beale, who told officers before they left: “We need to wake up.” That's all we're trying to do.
Lawrence went on to mention the long list of legitimate Chicagoans who she said are also in need, including veterans, homeless people and average everyday citizens.
“They need to be taken care of,” she said. “They have to stop being neglected. Because if we don’t have a voice here, we will have a voice out there.”
As she spoke, a chorus of voices rose in agreement – prompting the council to adjourn the meeting without considering the vote on the sanctuary's status.
The decision was criticized by councilor Anthony Beale, who told officers before they left: “We need to wake up.” That's all we're trying to do.
“Our people are demanding change. They are demanding resources and demanding that we in this body do something different.”
Meanwhile, crime remains a problem in the Windy City, particularly in the long-suffering neighborhoods mentioned by Lawrence.
In fact, according to the city's latest crime data, incidents are up a dramatic 17 percent compared to this time last year, when the city was still in the midst of a post-pandemic crime wave.
This crime wave has continued in many ways: the number of robberies has increased by 23 percent, and cases of theft and sexual assault have also increased slightly.
Meanwhile, crime remains a problem in the Windy City, particularly in the long-suffering neighborhoods mentioned by Lawrence
In fact, according to the city's latest crime data, incidents are up a dramatic 17 percent compared to this time last year, when the city was still in the midst of a post-pandemic crime wave. This crime wave has continued in many ways: the number of robberies has increased by 23 percent, and cases of theft and sexual assault have also increased slightly
“But we are afraid of the truth,” Beale said Thursday, before conditions at the Pilsen shelter — one of 26 shelters currently housing 12,000 residents — came to light.
“Crime is increasing. Our schools are in trouble. “We’re spending hundreds, millions of dollars on people who don’t even pay taxes and live in the city,” Beale said of the city’s current state.
“I'm all for taking care of people.” I get it. I'm also friendly. However, I have more sympathy for the people in my community who have paid taxes their whole lives, can't get a furnace, can't get a roof, can't get a water heater, can't get a backyard.
He further stated, “There's no reasonable way that we should be voting on hundreds of millions of dollars to just, you know, go to Brighton Park just to blow the whole thing up.”
As of Tuesday, more than 25,000 people have come to Chicago from the southern border since August 2022, most of them from Central American countries such as Venezuela rather than Mexico.
Meanwhile, after clinching a victory by just 26,000 votes, Johnson has sought to appeal to those who did not support him in the election, filling his transition team with familiar names from Chicago businesses and charities, as well as leaders of organized labor unions and progressive groups occupied.
His office said Monday – after being confronted with the 5-year-old's death – that the city had relocated or reunited more than 10,000 migrants and housed 13,992 in 27 shelters.