Chicago City Wire

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is suggesting suburban communities step in and help with the city’s growing immigrant problem.

Opponents say Johnson is holding contradictory public policy opinions on the city’s sanctuary status while at the same time – like his predecessor – moving immigrants to the suburbs.

"We see some real support on the horizon," Johnson said in an Aug. 2 press conference, regarding landing spots for the thousands of immigrants the city has attracted in recent months.

Johnson’s comments come as the state’s undocumented population has soared to an estimated 511,000. Chicago alone hosts around half that population, a whopping 7% of the city’s entire population. according to a report from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR).

“In Chicago, South Lawndale (Little Village) is the community area with the largest number of undocumented immigrants (20,000). Recent movements of immigrants have created large undocumented populations in Belmont Cragin, Gage Park, Albany Park, and Brighton Park that now outnumber the undocumented in Pilsen (Lower West Side),” the report reads. 

ICIRR reports DuPage, Kane, Lake, and Will counties are home to over 10,000 undocumented immigrants each.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been sending immigrants on buses to Chicago according to NBC News. Chicago's challenges are relatively minor compared to those faced by Texas border towns, he contends. Attributing the border crisis to President Joe Biden, Abbott has said Texas will continue the program until the border is properly secured.

Notably, 85,000 children traveling across the border alone are unaccounted for since Biden took office, according to The New York Times. An NYT investigation reveals that the U.S. government, including the White House and federal agencies, ignored warnings about the exploitation of migrant children who were put to work in violation of child labor laws. Despite signs of children at risk and evidence of exploitation, the report said that the Biden administration failed to take action to protect vulnerable minors, leaving them in punishing jobs after being released to sponsors.