Chicago and the state of Illinois will equally split $19 million in federal funding to help manage the recent surge of migrants Texas Governor Gregg Abbott has sent to the city. This money is part of a larger $300 million grant program that the Department of Homeland Security gave out to assist communities facing this challenge. The funds will cover temporary shelter and other related costs associated with migrants awaiting immigration proceedings.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin announced the grant:
“This announcement will help equip the City of Chicago and our state in receiving asylum seekers in a safe and orderly fashion. It’s important to remember the gravity of this situation,” Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat-Illinois
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration said that since August 2022, when Abbott started busing migrants to Chicago, the cost to the city through the end of 2023 totaled $295 million. Of those costs, $143 million have been covered by federal grants.
Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star so far has resulted in more than 38,898 asylum seekers, mostly from Venezuela, transported to Chicago from the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Operation Lone Star” was initiated by Texas Governor Gregg Abbott in March 2021 under the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas Department of State Health Services to address the challenges along the Texas-Mexico border region. A key strategy of this operation is to relocate migrants from Texas to other cities, primarily Democratic sanctuary cities such as Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, DC.
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