Dem Chicago alderman warns 'we are not taking care of our own' as city approves $70M for migrants

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A Democratic alderman in Chicago warned city leaders that they are neglecting their own citizens by voting to pass Mayor Brandon Johnson's request for an additional $70 million to help care for migrants who have arrived in the city. 

The budget committee voted 20-8 on Monday to advance the proposal to the full City Council after a lengthy debate.

"We are not taking care of our own," Ald. Chris Taliaferro of the 29th Ward said during the meeting. "We have all but forgotten the residents on the West Side and South Side."

The city has already allocated $150 million to help with the growing migrant crisis, and other city officials also questioned Johnson’s request for the additional $70 million in funding.

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A group of migrants receives food outside the migrant landing zone during a winter storm on Jan. 12, 2024, in Chicago. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

"Here we are begging for more money when we don’t have money for the people here," said 9th Ward Ald. Anthony Beale, a Democrat who opposed the proposal. "We don't have money for after school programs. We don't have money to help our kids get off the street. Yet, we would just blow money left and right. That's a fundamental problem."

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson initially allocated $150 million to help fund the care of migrants who arrived in the city. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, File)

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The $70 million, should the full City Council approve the proposal, will be drawn from the city’s assigned fund balance from 2022, Budget Director Annette Guzman said Monday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

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The City Council could vote on the proposal as soon as Wednesday.