Liberal sanctuary cities throughout the country are experiencing extreme budget crises, as they are suffering a huge financial cost for the arrival of migrants in their cities.
Just last week, Chicago announced that it had a budget deficit of $538 million. And while city leadership said there were many reasons for the deficit, one of the major factors is “the cost to care for new migrants arriving to the city.”
According to NBC Chicago, at least $200 million of the budget deficit comes from costs of special projects, which includes care for migrants. Some estimates have suggested that the migrant crisis is expected to cost the city in excess of $255 million by the end of 2023.
As a sanctuary city, Chicago welcomes illegal immigrants to its city. That’s because it prohibits any state or local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with enforcement of federal immigration agencies.
In other words, the city’s law enforcement agencies won’t arrest migrants for being in the country illegally – and won’t help federal agencies if they try to track them down.
Just this year, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wrote on his campaign website:
“Chicago is a sanctuary city. As such, we must always resist attempts to pit communities against each other and extend this sanctuary promise to everyone who needs it in our city – both long-time residents and newcomers alike.”
Sanctuary cities across the country have become the target of Republican-led states that are forced to deal with the migrant crisis that the Biden administration has created. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, for instance, has targeted these cities over the past year, sending migrants who have entered the country through his states via bus to these sanctuary cities.
He has argued that these sanctuary cities should share in the responsibility of having to deal with the crisis, since in many ways they are encouraging it.
On X, the social media platform that used to be called Twitter, Abbott wrote this month:
“Texas has bused over 35,000 migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities. Over 11,300 to D.C., over 13,300 to NYC, over 6,700 to Chicago, over 2,600 to Philadelphia, over 1,000 to Denver, over 480 to LA.”
Officials in the liberal cities have placed the blame on Abbott for the migrant crisis that they’re facing. However, according to Abbott’s stats, Texas is only “responsible” for a small percentage of the illegal immigrants who have arrived in their cities recently.
In other words, it’s much more likely that these migrants have gone to these cities on their own – attracted there by their sanctuary city status.
New York City is facing serious financial issues as well. Democratic Mayor Eric Adams said that the fact that more than 110,000 migrants have arrived in his city over the last year is threatening to “destroy” the city.
The mayor has warned residents of the city that this could result in huge cuts to many services, and could end up costing them as much as $12 billion over the next few years.
