In the first three months of 2024, the police of a Democrat-run town reportedly arrested more than 1,000 Venezuelans amid a huge outcry over extra money for feeding and housing migrants.
According to The Chicago Tribune’s analysis of Chicago crime data, there were 609 arrests made for driving/traffic violations, nine violent felonies, and 75 violent misdemeanors. There were also 313 non-violent offenses with nine listed as unknown.
The data only includes adults who were arrested by Chicago Police and excludes anyone else arrested. These arrest records do not include information about when these Venezuelans were arrested or their immigration status. The Tribune reported that Venezuelans were less likely to have violent crimes such as homicides accused against them.
The report is released as signs of anger and agitation continue to be expressed at the migrant inflow and the local government’s response.
Chicago City Council approved Mayor Brandon Johnson’s request for an extra $70 million to deal with the ongoing migration crisis. The vote was 30-18. This money comes on top of the $150 million already allocated to care for migrants in the budget. Johnson’s office claims that the city was at its busiest when it had to deal with over 2,000 migrants a week. Since August 2022, nearly 40,000 migrants have entered the country.
Mayor Johnson’s Office said that the funding request was made to ensure that the city is ready “should there suddenly be an increase in new arrivals sent from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.” The city will provide necessities such as food, shelter, medical care and education, vaccinations, case management, resettlement assistance, and resettlement services.
Abbott has sent migrants by bus to “sanctuary cities” that don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. He says that these cities should be the ones who bear the brunt for a national migration crisis that he believes their policies have encouraged.
In the United States, migrant crises have been raging for four years. In the last fiscal year, there were over 2.4 million encounters with migrants at the southern border. The political impact of the knock-on effect in cities all over the country is significant.
Residents in Chicago were outraged by the decision to spend the additional funding on migrants and not the community.
Last week, activist P Rae Easley stated that the main objection was that it seemed like there was no end in sight. “Every three to four months there is a new vote to allocate a huge amount of taxpayer money to illegals. We have to stop it or our city will be bankrupted.”
