Democratic metropolises are evicting migrants in the lead-up to the 2024 election despite their status as sanctuary cities, citing resource strains resulting from the ongoing border crisis.
Chicago, Denver and New York City are all increasing shelter evictions as the cities are overwhelmed with migrant influxes. President Joe Biden has declined to take executive action to secure the border, passing the buck to Congress despite revoking former President Donald Trump’s executive orders on the matter early into his term.
Chicago evicted 34 migrants on Sunday and plans to relocate 2,026 migrants from temporary shelters by the end of April, according to NBC News. The city anticipates evicting 244 migrants by the end of March.
“Our city is committed to compassion,” Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson asserted in a press release announcing the development. “By encouraging resettlement while also providing case-specific extensions with a focus on health and safety, we are advancing a pathway to stability and self-sufficiency.”
“While we know Chicago’s limited resources cannot meet the full scale of need across the New Arrivals Mission we are constantly evaluating options that will lead to better care for all Chicagoans,” he added.
Denver started evicting migrants who have been in shelters for six weeks in February as the city experiences overcrowding. The sanctuary city was sheltering over 4,400 foreign migrants through contracts in hotels as of January.
By September of 2023, the city had spent close to $25 million on housing migrants.
“Denverites have done their part, the city will do our part. The federal government failed to do their part,” Democratic Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said in February. “Addressing this crisis will require shared sacrifice, but we will continue to work together to meet this moment.”
Denver evicted 140 families from migrant shelters in early February, and Johnston announced later that month the city would be closing four shelters to save $60 million.
New York City’s latest migrant eviction policy is to kick out adults after 30 days and younger migrants under 23 and families in 60 days, according to a settlement reached on Friday. The city started evicting migrants in January, accordingto The Associated Press.
This policy is a departure from the city’s 1981 “right-to-shelter” law, which entitles anyone to housing, according to the AP. New York City has made budget cuts in order to spend billions in taxpayer funds to address the migrant crisis.
“We have been clear since day one that the ‘Right To Shelter’ was never intended to apply to large-scale migrant populations arriving without housing or legal work status in such a short period of time,” Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams posted on Friday. “This new agreement acknowledges the realities of where we are today, affirms our shared mission to help those in need and grants us additional flexibility to navigate this ongoing crisis.”
Border Patrol encountered over 2.2 million migrants in fiscal year 2022 and over 2 million in fiscal year 2023, according to federal data.
Johnson, Johnston and Adams did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Jason Cohen on March 18, 2024
