Mayor Lightfoot, Gov. Pritzker warn of critical tipping point in migrant crisis
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A group of activists and migrants marched for immigration reform through the rain in Chicago on Monday.
The protest came as more migrants are expected to arrive in Chicago from the Texas-Mexico border.
As CBS 2's Marissa Perlman reported Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago is at a critical tipping point.
"We've been seeing, over the last week, 200-plus people coming to Chicago every single day," Mayor Lightfoot said.
And city leaders worry that number could grow to 400 to 600 a day.
The bottom line is that Mayor Lightfoot says there are no more resources – and she called the move from Texas inhumane and dangerous.
"We are completely tapped out," Mayor Lightfoot said on CNN.
This came after the mayor sent a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, urging him to stop sending migrants to Chicago ahead of yet another expected surge.
The city says more than 8,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August, when Abbott first began sending busloads from the border with little warning.
"We have no more space, no more resources – and frankly, we're already in a surge," Lightfoot said.
On buses, on planes, and even on trains, the mayor says 200-plus asylum seekers are coming into the city every single day from Texas and other Republican-led states. Some have come with serious medical issues.
We have shown you photos of families and migrants awaiting shelter space assignments sleeping on the floors of Chicago Police station lobbies – sometimes for up to 10 days.
City leaders add that migrants are being dropped off at processing centers around the city such as the Salvation Army Freedom Center in Humboldt Park. We are told the city spends $17 million a month on housing migrants.
"What's getting lost in what the governor is doing is these are human beings," Mayor Lightfoot said on CNN. "In any other emergency, you would be coordinating. You would be collaborating."
The mayor expects the situation to get worse when Title 42 expires next week. Title 42 gave Border Patrol agents the authority to send migrants back home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Lightfoot is calling for federal help – specifically in the form of funding from the Federal Emergency Management Administration. She says the city has not seen a dime of such help this year.
The mayor is also calling for work permits for those coming into the city.
At a news conference, Gov. JB Pritzker says the mayor's letter likely will not stop this next surge.
"Is a letter going to say his mind?" Pritzker said of Texas' Gov. Abbott. "Probably not."
But Gov. Pritzker concurred with Mayor Lightfoot about the lack of resources for migrants.
"Our resources are stretched," said Gov. Pritzker. "We've gone to the federal government. I've gone directly to the president."
CBS 2 asked Gov. Pritzker at a news conference Monday what the state's plan is - as the number of migrants coming to his state is only expected to grow, and fast.
"We've already provided $150 million of state dollars and services to serve those asylum seekers," Pritzker said. "We're talking about shelter. We're talking about food. We're talking about health care."
Pritzker said the primary responsibility for the migrants lies with the city.
"The city is the primary recipient here, and we have worked together with the city – but it is based on a city operation. We are supporters of the city. The state can't really decide where we're going to tell people to go in the city," Pritzker said, "and I know that they've been working hard to provide shelter; to make sure that they're doing everything they can – and it hasn't been enough."
He also called the Texas' governor's plan with regard to the migrants "inhumane."
The governor says there is new money that could be flowing into the state from the federal government this week or next. He did not specify whether that would be in the form of FEMA funding.
