Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the city’s aldermen have typically seen eye to eye on the handling of the migrant crisis , but Johnson’s recent change in housing asylum-seekers has caused councilmembers to raise concerns.
Sixteen aldermen, including Johnson allies Ald. Daniel La Spata and Byron Sigcho-Lopez and moderate Ald. Matt O’Shea, sent a letter to the mayor on Thursday evening asking him to scrap his 60-day shelter limit policy for immigrants entering Chicago. Though conservative aldermen have severely criticized Johnson’s methods to address the issue, this is one of the first times that Johnson has received pushback from council members of his own party.
The letter sent Thursday comes just after 27 aldermen joined as co-sponsors for legislation put forward by Ald. Bill Conway, which would increase council oversight over the federal stimulus dollars being used to address the migrant crisis. The Johnson administration allocated $95 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to cover the costs, as well as $51 million of budget surplus to aid the mission, moves that conservatives and some local residents quickly blasted.