Although the Windy City has witnessed a staggering spike in crime over the past several years, Chicago voters nevertheless decided to replace far-left Mayor Lori Lightfoot with a Democrat who has embraced even more lenient policies regarding criminal justice.
With local police officers choosing to exit the profession and incoming Mayor Brandon Johnson’s record as an advocate for defunding law enforcement, the city’s police stations are arguably more decorative than functional at this point.
Perhaps acknowledging that point, local officials have decided to use these buildings not to prosecute criminals but to give those who entered the country illegally a place to stay.
Lightfoot recently complained that Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has seen his state struggle to absorb the influx of undocumented immigrants during the Biden administration, had sent a small number of those migrants to Chicago in recent months.
Although the mayor has previously touted her city’s status as a “sanctuary jurisdiction” for undocumented immigrants, she recently lamented: “We are completely tapped out. We have no more space, no more resources, and frankly, we are already in a surge. We’ve been seeing over the last two to three weeks, 200-plus people coming to Chicago every single day.”
The impending expiration of a pandemic-era rule allowing for easier deportation of individuals who illegally cross the border is expected to make the situation even worse in communities across the country.
Reports this week confirm that the lobbies of at least two Chicago police precincts have been transformed into makeshift shelters for the arriving migrants. As of Wednesday, Fox News reported that they did not have access to showers and could not easily use restroom facilities even as many of them were “sick and vomiting” only a short distance from where the city’s remaining police officers were attempting to do their work.
Migrants sheltering inside a Chicago police department. Has become standard in some precincts. pic.twitter.com/GCPcQGv1JY
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) May 5, 2023
The Chicago Police Department issued its own statement on the matter, offering sympathy for the undocumented immigrants, but one anonymous law enforcement source quoted by Fox News echoed the growing sentiment that the city’s current problems are self-inflicted.
“This is a dangerous situation that arose from their ridiculous sanctuary city policy,” the individual said. “They clearly do not have a plan to deal with it and they’re placing the cops once again in undue risk.”
