There is something happening in Chicago, as residents of the Windy City appear to be waking up to the costs of illegal immigration.
The Chicago City Council voted overwhelmingly to allocate $51 million in funding to house illegal aliens earlier this month, but not before getting a tongue lashing from many of their constituents. The City Council meeting was swarmed by Chicagoans angry that the city is dedicating so many of its resources towards illegal aliens while many residents go without quality food or housing. The residents, many of whom are African American, felt betrayed that the council and recently-elected Mayor Brandon Johnson are prioritizing illegal aliens over the city’s black community.
“We need to allocate some of this money for our black children, for the black community, we have not gotten anything for our community, and we are sick and tired of being sick and tired, enough is enough,” one resident said.
Many of these people likely voted and campaigned for Johnson, who won the mayoral race earlier this year running on a platform that included promises of more welfare for illegal aliens, while also giving them access to the voting franchise.
Chicago’s voting base is starting to realize that their political and economic power is becoming diluted by the large influx of illegal aliens currently flooding the city, and they’re not happy about it. Chicago has long promoted itself as a sanctuary city, which welcomes all migrants, legal, and illegal. The Windy City is the third most dangerous sanctuary city in the country, according to an analysis from the Immigration Reform Law Institute.
For many years, the problems of illegal immigration have been treated as an abstract concept in the city, and its sanctuary status as a consequence-free way for city leaders to virtue signal about their supposed humanity. But now the consequences of that virtue signaling are becoming real, and many Chicago residents are in a state of panic.
Illegal immigration causes massive cultural, political, and economic upheaval, and Chicago is now dealing with many of the same problems that border towns have dealt with for decades. The upheaval was triggered by Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, who have forced the city to finally put its money where its mouth is.
For the past two years, these governors have been bussing illegal aliens who have exploited the Biden Administration’s open border to major sanctuary cities, including Chicago. New York is now being forced to house illegal aliens in school gyms, and is even considering doing the same in private residences.
Over five million illegal aliens have crossed the southern border since Joe Biden took office, and sanctuary cities are learning the hard way that the country simply cannot accommodate all of these new people. Illegal immigration is no longer something that just impacts rural border communities, but is now causing strain in major cities that have spent years encouraging it, with little consequences for themselves. Cities such as Chicago and New York can change their sanctuary status anytime they want, but doing so would require them to admit that border security advocates have been right all along: mass immigration does strain resources, deflate wages, and reduce the political and economic power of American citizens.
Ultimately, thanks to the democratic process, angry Chicago residents will have the final say in this matter. They can elect new leaders who won’t consistently prioritize illegal aliens over the wellbeing of their citizens, or they can continue to apply pressure on their current leaders to change course. Chicago residents who no longer wish to deal with the consequences of illegal immigration hold the power over their city’s future in their hands. It’s up to them to decide what to do with it.
William J. Davis is a communications associate for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.