Feds send $19.3 million for Chicago, state of Illinois to cover soaring migrant costs

WASHINGTON — The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago will split equally $19.3 million in new federal funding to help pay for the soaring costs of taking care of migrants Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott has sent to the city, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced in a Friday statement.

The grant for the Chicago and Illinois state governments comes from $300 million in spending Congress earlier approved for the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency to deal with the migrant crisis.

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“This announcement will help equip the City of Chicago and our state in receiving asylum seekers in a safe and orderly fashion. It’s important to remember the gravity of this situation. Asylum seekers have been subjected to cruel — and even unknowing — relocation at the whim of Governor Greg Abbott and Republicans’ inhumane agenda. We need to uphold our country’s commitment as a welcoming nation for migrants, and that requires federal assistance,” Durbin said.

“While I welcome this funding, it’s not enough to properly provide our city with the resources we need — and I’ll keep pushing for more funding to help our city and state. ... Since the start of Governor Abbott’s cruel, inhumane, and partisan stunt dubbed, “Operation Lone Star,” more than 38,898 asylum seekers have been transported to Chicago from the U.S.-Mexico border.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration said in a Friday update that since August 2022, when Abbott started busing migrants to Chicago, the cost to the city, through the end of 2023, totaled $295 million. So far, $143 million of those costs have been covered by federal grants.