Chicago Mayor Johnson defends spending on migrant crisis during Capitol Hill hearings

CHICAGO (WLS) -- With an influx of more than 50,000 migrants coming to Chicago since 2022, the immigration crisis has strained city and state resources.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson defended spending taxpayer dollars on maintaining a welcoming city while being interrogated Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee in Washington.

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Tens of thousands of people were transformed into political pawns when they were bussed and flown from Texas to Chicago over the course of the last three years. The city and state were left to pick up the pieces, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the migrant crisis. On Capitol Hill, Mayor Johnson defended that spending.

"You're the mayor of Chicago. Do you think that your residents or the residents of your state should be paying for that, more than they should be paying for their own needs, their own growths... their own public safety?" Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry asked.

"The people of Chicago elected me as the 57th mayor of the city of Chicago and we serve all the residents of the city of Chicago," Mayor Johnson replied.

However, that service comes with a cost. According to data obtained by the ABC7 I-Team, since September 2022, the city has paid out $638.7 million in vendor contracts for the new arrivals.

"Mayor Johnson, in the last four years, how much has Chicago spent on care for illegal aliens?" North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx asked.

"Since 2022, since the governor of Texas was shipping individuals to cities across this country, the city's budget, roughly 1% of the city's budget over the course of four years," Mayor Johnson replied.

That 1% comes out to about $625 million over the past four years, but according to those vendor payments, the real numbers are even higher. It also does not include the cost of migrants then leaving the city. Last year, the ABC7 I-Team uncovered nearly $850,000 of taxpayer money was spent on moving migrants out of Chicago.

Johnson also faced the ire of Illinois Republican Darin LaHood Wednesday afternoon.

"You're putting the interest of illegal immigrants above the interest of tax payers in Chicago," Rep. LaHood said.

The mayor was forced to justify covering the exorbitant costs.

"In accordance with the Welcoming City Ordinance, our sister agencies or city departments, we do not seek the status of any individual that is seeking service," Johnson testified.

According to the latest city of Chicago data obtained by the I-Team, there are no migrants awaiting placement, and almost 2,500 migrants are in city shelters of the more than 51,000 that arrived since 2022.