Dupage Policy Journal

Safe Suburbs USA is questioning which suburban communities Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is planning on partnering with to punt the city’s illegal immigrant population. 

As of 2023, Chicago’s sanctuary status has attracted over 800,000 undocumented residents. 

“Mayor Johnson says he’s been in dialogue with suburban cities to help share the migrant burden," Safe Suburbs USA said on Twitter. "Johnson says he sees suburban support on the horizon. Is your community one that is agreeing to do this?”  

Johnson noted in a recent press conference that he had been in discussions with suburban governments to accept the border crossers.

“We see some real support on the horizon,” Johnson said at the press conference, Chicago City Wire reported.

The Migration Policy Institute reports DuPage County, where Safe Suburbs USA, is based is already home to over 32,000 illegal immigrants, which is over three times the 10,000 reported in each of the counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, and Will in 2014 by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The bulk of the undocumented population comprises those aged 35 to 44.

But that figure pales in comparison to Chicago’s staggering population of 829,000, according to NBC News, which also reports Chicago’s open arms policies have given illegal immigrants a soft landing spot. The city has taken to setting up temporary shelters, sometimes in police stations where allegations of sexual impropriety have arisen, and committing millions of taxpayer dollars to provide for those in the country illegally. While former mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke welcoming words to those incoming she later changed her tune when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending border crosses to Chicago and other Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities by the busload. Johnson has similarly toed a line between welcoming the undocumented to the city – where there is no longer room – while condemning the politics of those seeking to put an end to illegal border crossings. Thus, Johnson’s move to push the undocumented to the suburbs.