It’s the secret side of Chicago’s migrant crisis.
Some migrants who arrive here don’t want to stay.
More than 35,000 migrants have been sent to Chicago since 2022, mostly from Texas. The question is, who pays for them to leave?
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Some asylum-seekers coming to Chicago from the border, at a sizable cost to government agencies, are then going somewhere else.
The ABC7 I-Team asked Illinois state officials for information on how many migrants are coming and going. An ABC7 data investigation reveals this double migration, the coming and going, is running up the tab for a crisis that already caught Illinois by surprise, and continues to stretch government resources and finances.
Migrants have been flown into Illinois from Texas, expelled by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. They have also been bused here by the thousands from the border zone.
People fleeing their homeland have become points of political contention, sides of humanitarian debates and figures on government ledgers. Even as more asylum-seekers arrive here, some continue to leave.