Chicago City Wire

The special City Council meeting, convened to decide on the possibility of a non-binding referendum allowing voters to consider if Chicago should remain a "sanctuary city," descended into chaos and concluded without resolution on Thursday. 

Initially, the meeting was delayed due to insufficient quorum as Mayor Brandon Johnson was not in Washington D.C., lobbying for federal funding for asylum-seeking migrants in Chicago. ABC7 brought forward that Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa, from the City Council's Democratic Socialist Caucus, encouraged fellow aldermen via text message to skip the special meeting, labeling it as a "waste of time".

The concept of placing a referendum about Chicago's sanctuary city status on the April ballot was first introduced to the City Council and sent to Rules Committee - where resolutions typically fade away. The reason behind calling this special City Council meeting was to breathe life into this proposed referendum. After a substantial delay on Thursday, there was finally enough presence of aldermen enabling the meeting under Ald. Sam Nugent (39th), who presided in Johnson's absence.

Beale expressed support for the resolution of a referendum that allows Chicago residents to vote if their city should continue being an asylum seeker's haven - an act costing taxpayers over $31 million monthly. In addition, he indicated concerns over Mayor Johnson's upcoming budget proposal lacking defined funding sources for handling approximately 20k incoming migrants other than hopeful anticipation from state and federal government or fortuitous influx of money.

"All I'm asking is to give the people of the great city of Chicago a voice on this issue," Beale said who added that he has compassion for asylum-seeking migrants but insisted that city taxpayers deserve input when allocating funds towards housing, food and social services for migrants—services that low-income ward residents don't get from City Hall.

However, instead of taking a roll call vote, the meeting disintegrated into a dispute over whether the City Council's order would permit the measure to progress. Ald. Raymond Lopez tried replacing Nugent as the temporary presiding officer of the City Council through an unsuccessful parliamentary maneuver. In response, Nugent abruptly adjourned the meeting without voting and exited amidst a chorus of disapproval. Lopez attempted to keep the special meeting going by calling for a recess until Tuesday. The state of the special meeting – whether it was adjourned or recessed — remained unresolved.