Leaders of major metros around the U.S. have pushed for more progressive immigration policies in recent years by declaring themselves safe havens for illegal immigrants. Now, however, as the realities of the financial and social impacts of those policies sink in, some local leaders are thinking twice.
Millions of illegal immigrants have flowed across the southern border since President Joe Biden took office, with many seeking haven in self-proclaimed "sanctuary cities."
“The policies of the Biden administration have certainly upped the ante on this sort of virtue signaling in recent years,” Ira Mehlman from the Federation for American Immigration Reform told The Center Square, referring to sanctuary cities. “Some 2.3 million new illegal aliens have entered the country since Biden took office, and a lot of them have wound up in these sanctuary jurisdictions, either on their own, transported by the federal government, or transported by other jurisdictions that simply cannot handle the influx.”
Cities like New York and Chicago have dismissed concerns from border states in recent years, but now they are raising the alarm that they cannot handle the flood of migrants.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams publicly said last week the city cannot handle any more migrants. He told reporters that the city plans to pass out flyers at the southern border to discourage illegal immigrants from traveling to NYC.
As The Center Square previously reported, the Chicago City Council and Mayor Brandon Johnson heard from Chicago residents who voiced concerns about the increase in migrants and the taxpayer funds being spent to support them.
"What people are feeling is that the people who have been in these neighborhoods for generations, they have been treated inhumanely by the same government that is making efforts to provide good care to the asylum seekers," state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, told The Center Square.
