Mayor Brandon Johnson is blaming the growing migrant crisis in Chicago on his predecessor Lori Lightfoot, saying he "inherited" the influx of immigrants from the previous administration.
Johnson criticized Lightfoot during a press conference on Tuesday announcing the "Unity Initiative," an interfaith partnership between 17 churches agreeing to take immigrants in from police stations. Like many Democratic-led cities, Chicago has received 20,000 immigrants over the last 14 months from southern border states. Thousands of these immigrants are staying in airports and police stations as the Johnson administration looks to put up permanent housing before winter.
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On "the international crisis that I inherited six months ago, I've made it very clear we are going to move people out of police districts, women and children who are living on floors and sleeping outside that we're going to create spaces that provide more dignity," Johnson said.
"Did you know when I was sworn in in May, the previous City Council did not budget for 2023's migrant mission," the mayor added. "So, not only have we stood up the full force of government in a collaborative way, we did it without the previous City Council even providing resources for it."
During her administration, Lightfoot received heavy backlash for the city's soaring crime rates and decreasing police staff, as well as her personal battles with the Chicago Teachers Union and City Council members.
Under Lightfoot, crime rose by 42%. While murder rates dropped 14% in 2022 from the year prior, about 800 people were murdered under her tenure. More than 1,500 officers left the Chicago police force during the Lightfoot administration, as well.
Johnson also placed blame on the "far Right" during his comments on Thursday.
"What we've seen is a very raggedy form of right-wing extremism," Johnson said. "Everyone knows that the right-wing extremism in this country has targeted democratically-run cities, and quite frankly, they have been quite intentional about going after democratically-ran cities that are led by people of color."
"It is abysmal and it is an affront for everything that is good about this country for the extremism in this country to use people as political tools to settle political scores for something that happened over 400 years ago," Johnson continued. "They're still mad that a black man is free in this country."
Tensions over the migrant crisis have been evolving quickly since Johnson took office. In May, the Chicago City Council announced that $51 million in financial aid from the budget surplus would go toward addressing the influx of immigrants bused from Texas, and the announcement received heavy backlash from Republicans.
Since taking office, Johnson has pushed for tax increases to aid homelessness and authorized the creation of permanent tent camps for immigrants. He's also called on the government to fast-track work permits for immigrants.
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Johnson's recent budget, which was passed on Nov. 15, will allocate $150 million to asylum-seekers, a decline from previous estimates that placed the cost at over $360 million. Homelessness investments also will increase to $250 million, while anti-violence programming will reach $100 million.
A Johnson ally, Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, recently resigned from his position as the Chicago City Council's floor leader after allegedly "manhandling" a councilwoman to prevent her from attending a meeting on the city's sanctuary status and immigration crisis. The mayor cast the tiebreaking vote against censuring Ramirez-Rosa shortly after.