Chicago’s leadership is under fire due to the presence of hundreds of migrants being accommodated at O’Hare International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest travel hubs, Fox reports. In a recent interview on “Fox & Friends,” Chicago journalist William Kelly discussed the challenges the city is grappling with as a consequence of the surge in migrants.
Reports indicate that over 400 migrants are currently housed within a section of the airport, concealed from public view by black curtains. This figure has soared from a mere 31 individuals at the beginning of August. Kelly emphasized that the airport serves as one of only 18 migrant shelters in Chicago, with a new policy in place that prohibits homeless Americans from seeking shelter there. This policy shift occurred following criticism of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who faced challenges associated with homelessness at the airport earlier this year.
Kelly remarked, “Mayor Johnson campaigned as the people’s mayor. Sadly, the people are telling me that he’s the migrants’ mayor.” He also raised concerns about the differing security and background checks for migrants compared to Americans at airports. Concurrently, the city grapples with ongoing crime issues and strives to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
He voiced his concerns about the allocation of funds for the migrant crisis, saying, “There are millions upon millions of dollars being spent on this migrant crisis. Nobody knows where the money is going, or what it’s being spent on.” Kelly expressed frustration over his attempts to obtain answers from the mayor, noting, “Sadly, Mayor Johnson must have taken Mayor Lightfoot’s course at Harvard on media relations because he won’t answer my questions.”
Kelly described the situation as “horrifying on every level” and shared a personal perspective, saying, “One of the migrant shelters in Chicago is directly across the street from my building on Michigan Avenue. So I look out the window, and it’s like a scene from Mad Max every single day. It really is a fail on every level, the police are not able to babysit the migrants and arrest the violent criminals at the same time. And so the people of Chicago are suffering.”
Vianney Marzullo, a leading volunteer with the Police Station Response Team advocacy group, noted to the Chicago Sun-Times that O’Hare is supposedly serving as a temporary holding place for incoming flights. According to the Daily Mail, Chicago continues to struggle with accommodating the thousands of migrants arriving in the city, with approximately 14,000 migrants transported by bus to Chicago since August. Currently, there are 15 shelters for asylum seekers operating throughout the city, and another shelter is expected to open on the South Side next month.
{Matzav.com}