Immigration surge overburdens US cities

CHICAGO — US cities already struggling to shelter thousands of migrants are calling for federal help and an end to Republican political gamesmanship over immigration, concerned that an expected increase in the number of people entering the country when pandemic-era asylum restrictions end on the US-Mexico border next Thursday will further strain their budgets and resources.

Chicago has long pledged to welcome migrants, but a tenfold increase in recent days has taxed resources. Migrants awaiting beds in city-run shelters are sleeping on floors in police stations and in airports surrounded by suitcases. They are depending on donors for food, medicine and clothing.

When border crossings increased last summer, Republican governors of border states bused migrants to cities led by Democrats, including Chicago, New York and Denver, arguing that their own cities were overwhelmed. Texas' governor vowed this week to resume a program busing new arrivals to Chicago and other cities.

More than 8,000 migrants have come into Chicago since August, city officials said. The number of new arrivals slowed this winter to about 10 people per day. But toward the end of last month, it grew to between 75 and 150 people per day.

Over capacity

"Our system is over capacity," Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, told city officials on Friday. "Make no mistake, we are in a surge and things have yet to peak."

Major US cities were already bracing for thousands of new arrivals when a rule that denies asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19 expires on May 11. But the uptick has begun sooner than Chicago officials expected, and they fear that busing from Texas could further overwhelm them.

"We simply have no more shelters, spaces, or resources to accommodate an increase of individuals at this level," Chicago's Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote in a letter to Texas' Republican Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday.

In his reply, Abbott noted that the influx has already strained Texas.

"As the mayor of a self-declared sanctuary city, it is ironic to hear you complain about Chicago's struggle to deal with a few thousand illegal immigrants, which is a fraction of the record-high numbers we deal with in Texas on a regular basis," Abbott wrote.

Agencies via Xinhua