Most of the $51 Million in Aid for Illegals Approved by the Chicago City Council to Be Spent on Staffing Firm

 

Chicago City Council

In May that, while Chicago burns with rampant crime and violence, the City Council approved $51 million in aid for illegals.

WLS now reports that most of those funds, $47 million, will be used to pay for a national staffing firm that provides personnel at shelters receiving illegals arriving in the city.

From WLS:

Most of the $51 million approved by the City Council during a recent tense meeting will go toward paying a national staffing firm that is providing around-the-clock personnel at the makeshift shelters where recently arrived asylum seekers are seeking refuge, according to a city official.

Cristina Pacione-Zayas, first deputy chief of staff for Mayor Brandon Johnson, told the City Council’s Committee on Immigration and Refugee Rights during a Wednesday hearing that $47 million must be used to pay personnel, describing it as something they “inherited” that was not the best use of funds. Pacione-Zayas said the administration plans to seek request for proposals in July from Chicago-based organizations that could take over that work.

The city also spent funds on leases for spaces, meals, facility maintenance, rental assistance and transportation, Pacione-Zayas said.

While the Council ultimately approved the expenditure, it was not without controversy. Chicagoans are increasingly outraged by how the city is handling the crisis brought on by Joe Biden’s broken border policy.

Ald. David Moore of the 17th Ward voted to reject the funding saying, “If there’s enough to go around, then let’s pass an ordinance where we see the ‘enough.” Moore argued for spending money on Chicago residents like those in his district  which is an underserved, majority-Black ward.

The $51 million is in addition to the Illinois state budget that included $42.5 million targeted for illegals for shelter, legal representation and translation services.