Since August 2022, over 10,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Chicago after Gov. Greg Abbott sent buses filled with immigrants to Illinois's largest city on Aug. 31. It was the third Democratic city to receive immigrants from the southern border state.On Wednesday, the Chicago City Council approved the use of $51 million in financial aid from the city's budget surplus to address the influx of immigrants.
"We don't know where that money is coming from," said Steve Boulton, Chicago Republican Party chairman, via ABC 7 News."We are not being told where that money is going to be spent. We are not being told how it is being spent. It is irresponsible for the City Council to appropriate what is no more than stop-gap money that will get us through a month or two and then the problem will still be starting at us in the face.
Abbott has continued to send buses of immigrants to several Democratic cities in the last year. The Lone Star State bused almost 20,000 immigrants across the United States after launching the"border bus mission" in April 2022. The mission aimed to alleviate pressure on small border communities and, at the same time, make a political statement regarding the Biden administration's response to the border crisis.