Democrats have started turning on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson over his handling of the migrant crisis.
The WIndy City is struggling to care for more than 34,000 asylum-seekers bussed in from the border by Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the past 18 months.
It has spent $156million on the crisis and still has 14,200 migrants in its 28 shelters, and is fighting with the state of Illinois about where to build more.
Zerlina Smith-Members, a victim services advocate and candidate for Cook County Board of Commissioners, is a Democrat blowing the whistle on Johnson’s policies.
‘We have people who have come here illegally, who have jumped the line,’ Smith-Members, who is considering leading a recall against Johnson, said.
![The city of Chicago may have decided its fed up with their role in the migrant crisis under progressive Mayor Brandon Johnson, with some Democrats hoping to pull 'sanctuary city' status away](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/13/02/81187991-13076575-image-a-30_1707792373370.jpg)
The city of Chicago may have decided its fed up with their role in the migrant crisis under progressive Mayor Brandon Johnson, with some Democrats hoping to pull ‘sanctuary city’ status away
![Chicago is struggling to care for more than 34,000 asylum-seekers bussed in from the border by Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the past 18 months](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/13/02/81187983-13076575-image-a-31_1707792379614.jpg)
Chicago is struggling to care for more than 34,000 asylum-seekers bussed in from the border by Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the past 18 months
She puts the failure of the Windy City at the feet of Johnson, Democrat Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker and President Joe Biden.
‘It’s a Biden thing. It’s a Pritzker thing. It’s a Brandon Johnson thing. They wanted sanctuary cities,’ Smith-Members told the National Review.
‘It’s not Abbott’s fault, because he didn’t ask for it. We asked for it.’ Smith-Members plans to lead the charge against Democrats like Johnson, attempting to launch a recall.
‘There’s a division in our Democratic Party. It has weakened. It is going to get worse,’ Smith-Members said.
‘The city of Chicago voters have woke up. The state of Illinois voters have woke up. And they’re not standing with our old leadership.’
She added that if they don’t, ‘the immigration crisis is going to flip the state of Illinois purple.’
Illinois, the state that first elected Barack Obama to the Senate, has elected just one Republican governor and Senator each since the turn of the century.
![Zerlina Smith-Members, a victim services advocate and candidate for Cook County Board of Commissioners, is a Democrat willing to blow the whistle on Johnson's policies](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/13/03/81187987-13076575-Zerlina_Smith_Members_a_victim_services_advocate_and_candidate_f-m-2_1707795430878.jpg)
Zerlina Smith-Members, a victim services advocate and candidate for Cook County Board of Commissioners, is a Democrat willing to blow the whistle on Johnson’s policies
![She puts the failure of the Windy City at the feet of Johnson, Democrat Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker (pictured) and President Joe Biden](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/13/02/81187981-13076575-image-a-33_1707792390196.jpg)
She puts the failure of the Windy City at the feet of Johnson, Democrat Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker (pictured) and President Joe Biden
![The city has spent $156 million on the crisis and still has 14,200 migrants in its 28 shelters, and is fighting with the state of Illinois about where to build more](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/13/02/80506075-13076575-The_city_has_spent_156_million_on_the_crisis_and_still_has_14_20-a-38_1707792472468.jpg)
The city has spent $156 million on the crisis and still has 14,200 migrants in its 28 shelters, and is fighting with the state of Illinois about where to build more
No Republican has been elected Mayor of Chicago since William Thompson in 1927.
Shelters in converted warehouses in Chicago have been filled to the brim with new arrivals living in poor conditions, leading to the city commandeering other venues.
Johnson has insisted the city would not open any more migrant shelters, and called on Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to make good on promises to build its own ones.
Southside activist Tio Hardiman says that the city needs to focus on it’s less fortunate residents before handling migrants.
‘The reality is, if you look at Chicago now, you have high unemployment rates among African-American youth in particular, you have a lack of mental-health services in Chicago, you had thousands of homeless people in Chicago already that were never, ever focused on like they are focusing on the migrants,’ he said.
‘If I was the mayor right now, I would make an executive decision to bring an end to sanctuary-city [status] in Chicago,’ he added.
‘I would get rid of it because we’re not prepared to deal with it.’
Mayor Johnson himself says the huge influx of migrants is unsustainable, but he can’t turn them away because Chicago is a ‘sanctuary city’.
![A homeless persons tent is seen across the Montrose beach in Chicago](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/13/02/81187969-13076575-image-a-35_1707792401058.jpg)
A homeless persons tent is seen across the Montrose beach in Chicago
![Migrants, without a place to stay upon arrival in the city, seek safe shelter inside the District 12 station of the Chicago Police Department](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/13/02/81187965-13076575-image-a-37_1707792413802.jpg)
Migrants, without a place to stay upon arrival in the city, seek safe shelter inside the District 12 station of the Chicago Police Department
He blamed both the Biden Administration and Texas for his city struggling to care for the about 15,000 asylum-seekers crammed into 28 shelters across the city.
Governor Abbott has sent more than 25,300 migrants to Chicago since August 2022, on buses.
Chicago tried to have them arrive at designated locations during business hours and impounding buses that didn’t follow these rules.
However, bus companies responded by dropping off migrants as far as 60 miles from Chicago, and Abbott started sending them on charter flights.
Conditions in Chicago’s migrant shelters have been under a microscope since five-year-old boy Jean Carlo Martinez Rivero died on December 17.
Johnson maintained there was ‘no evidence the condition of the shelter caused the death of this young boy’.
Volunteers who try to help the asylum-seekers as best they can argue differently, submitting lists of concerns to city officials months before Jean’s death.
Photos and videos inside the shelter where he died showed 2,300 migrants huddled together in freezing temperatures under a leaking roof.
One video showed a young boy with what appeared to be a bandage on his head lying on a thin fold-out bed, distracting himself with a tablet.
Another shows a different child coughing and crying as they had their temperature taken and were examined by volunteers.
A third video showed water leaking from the roof and pooling on one of the beds.