Frustrated Chicago residents fed up with spending on illegal immigrants, call for Republican leadership

Chicago residents are fed up with the city spending taxpayer dollars on illegal immigrants, prompting some to call for Republicans to take over the traditionally Democrat-run city.
"The taxpayers are paying and funding this illegal migrant crisis," South-Side resident Danielle Carter told Fox News Digital. "So, therefore, it's not fair to us because they are taking our resources. They are spending our tax dollars on people who crossed the border illegally. I think everybody who came over here illegally should get deported and come back legally."
Carter is a member of the Chicago Flips Red, a group made up of city residents who are critical of the city's handling of the migrant crisis. Since August 2022, the city estimates that over 51,000 illegal immigrants from the southern border have traveled to Chicago.
Over the past couple of years, their frustration has been displayed at several city council meetings where they complained about a proposed tax hike to address the city's budget deficit, while the city spends more than half a billion dollars on sheltering migrants. According to city officials, Chicago is expected to spend $40 million on migrant services.
Chicago Alderman Accuses Mayor Johnson Of Only Listening To 'Hyper-liberal White Progressives' On Immigration
Zoe Leigh, another member of Chicago Flips Red, told Fox News Digital that she believes the city's spending on illegal immigrants is "unconstitutional."
Read On The Fox News App
"We continue to spend more because of this. It's unconstitutional. It's wrong. This is unfair. American citizens have put too much into the United States, into this nation, for us not to even have a say," she said.
Chicago Flips Red founder Patricia "P Rae" Easley called for a democratic process to decide whether local authorities should work with federal law enforcement like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport illegal immigrants.
"They should have given us the opportunity to vote for it. Just a simple yes or no question. Should we remain a sanctuary city? They didn't want to give that to us. The fact of the matter is, the Chicagoans have never, ever, ever voted for this sanctuary city ordinance," Easley said.
Chicago Horror: 2 Migrants Charged With Murder As Homan Leads Ice Raids
The city council recently blocked a proposal that would have allowed local law enforcement to assist ICE to detain migrants with a criminal record. Mayor Brandon Johnson released guidelines for how city officials should handle ICE visits on city property, while reaffirming his administration's "commitment to the welcoming city ordinance."
Carter said she and others are willing to report any migrants to the authorities.
"We're on the ground. We have our boots on the ground. So, the people in the neighborhood are willing and ready to work with Tom Homan and ICE," Carter said.
"They care more for other people who are not from this country than they do here in America," Mark Carter told Fox News Digital.
Cata Truss, a Democrat, said the city leaders should be looking to take care of our own citizens first, citing the "homeless problem" in the city.
"You've even laid out the red carpet in terms of funding for them. Yet your people are still suffering. We had a homeless problem here in the city of Chicago before the migrants ever got here. And so you're putting them up in hotels and finding nice places for them to stay," she said.
Chicago officials operated temporary shelters, including churches, hotels, a library and former warehouses. The largest shelters housed more than 1,000 people, while others reported counts closer to 100.
City officials consolidated shelters for the homeless and migrants in an attempt to save taxpayers money, an effort Johnson called a "unified sheltering system."
Johnson's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News' Joshua Nelson and Elizabeth Heckman reported from Chicago, Illinois.Original article source: Frustrated Chicago residents fed up with spending on illegal immigrants, call for Republican leadership

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

USA Today

20 minutes ago

• USA Today

Huckabee: State Department is evacuating Americans from Israel amid Iran conflict

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also posted actions people can take to remain safe including learning the location of the nearest bomb shelters. The State Department has begun evacuating American citizens and permanent residents from Israel and the West Bank, U.S Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on social media as the Israel-Iran war enters a second week. 'The Department of State has begun assisted departure flights from Israel,' Huckabee wrote in a post on X on June 21 asking people seeking government assistance to fill out a form. Huckabee also posted actions people can take to remain safe including learning the location of the nearest bomb shelters, avoiding large gatherings and monitoring local media. The State Department did not immediately respond to questions asking about the number of Americans it expects to retrieve from Israel. The conflict started a week ago when Israel began conducting airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military sites, primarily targeting uranium enrichment facilities to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The two countries have been engaged in aerial strikes while President Donald Trump is mulling over the possibility of U.S. involvement to help Israel destroy Iranian nuclear facilities. Hundreds of Americans have left Iran in the last week, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters. Trump is expected meet his national security team on the evening of June 21 to discuss possible U.S. involvement in the conflict .

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Newlywed couple's honeymoon ends with her ICE detention, prospect of deportation

Taahir Shaikh needed headshots for his new job, so he set up an appointment with a photographer named Ward Sakeik. One appointment turned into three photo shoots, and the two just kept talking. Three years later, the newlywed couple was elated to go on their honeymoon. But after spending nine days in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the couple's trip ended with Sakeik, 22, being detained for what has become months in several U.S. immigration detention centers. Sakeik, whose family is from Gaza but is legally stateless, has lived in the U.S. since she was 8, when her family travelled to the U.S. on a tourist visa and applied for asylum, according to her husband. While she was issued a deportation order more than a decade ago, Sakeik was permitted to stay in the U.S. under what's known as an "order of supervision," in which she regularly checked in with federal immigration authorities and is permitted work authorization, according to her lawyer and husband. At the St. Thomas Airport, as the couple prepared to return home on Feb. 11, Sakeik was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection -- and has been held in custody in the months since. Then, last week, the government attempted to deport Sakeik without informing her where she was being sent, according to Shaikh. Sakeik says an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer told her she was being taken to the Israel border, he said. After she waited in the airport for two hours, she was sent back to Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where she had recently been transferred. She later found out this was just hours before Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, Shaikh said. Now, facing a still uncertain future, his wife's family is "fearful beyond imagination," Shaikh, a U.S. citizen, told ABC News. "She's in a procedural black hole because she's not even eligible for a bond," Shaikh said. "They're saying 'when you were eight years old, you already were given your due process in court.' She doesn't even remember what a courtroom looks like." Sakeik does not have citizenship in any country, according to her lawyer, Waled Elsaban, and her husband. She was born in Saudi Arabia, which does not assign citizenship at birth to anyone who is not born to Saudi citizens. Sakeik, whose family is from the Gaza Strip, has never been to the Palestinian enclave, and she was not able to obtain legal status or citizenship from there either, her lawyer said. MORE: Tufts University doctoral student out of ICE custody after judge orders her release The family came to the U.S. 14 years ago, when she was just 8 years old, Shaikh said. "Fourteen years ago, my wife has no agency in the decision. She has no idea what's happening. All she knows is that they had refugee status in Saudi Arabia, they weren't given any level of citizenship [and] their work authorization was being stripped from Saudi Arabia," Shaikh said. The family came to the U.S. on travel visas and sought asylum, Shaikh said. Years later, Sakeik's asylum case was denied and she and her family were issued deportation orders. Since Saudi Arabia, Israel and neighboring countries were unwilling to accept Sakeik and her family, they were permitted to stay in the U.S. under an "order of supervision" -- a classification that provided them work permits. They were also required to regularly check in with ICE, according to Shaikh and Elsaban. In the years since she was denied asylum, Sakeik and her family have explored several pathways to obtain visas or citizenship in the U.S., including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and sponsorship, but they were unsuccessful, her husband said. "There's many stories very similar to my wife's case, where the local immigration courts have accepted it, and for whatever reason, whether it was the lawyer or the legal team at the time, whether it was just a matter of the judge that had their case on the docket, they were denied," Shaikh said. MORE: Israel-Iran live updates: Multiple B-2 stealth bombers head to Guam, sources say "My wife has tried every route to adjust her status. Now that she's finally at the finish line and she has a way to get lawful permanent residence, they stripped it from her," Shaikh said. The couple thought they had prepared for their honeymoon. Months before their wedding, under the Biden administration, the couple called an ICE processing center to ask if they could travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Shaikh said they were told they could. At the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, the morning of their trip in February, they also asked a Transportation Security Administration representative and an airline representative and were assured they could travel to the islands with just their U.S. driver's licenses, he said. After being detained at the St. Thomas Airport on their return trip, Shaikh said Sakeik was kept handcuffed on the plane to Miami, where the flight had a layover. The couple was not given a reason for her detention and was initially told she would be released from custody in Miami. There, the couple was separated. Sakeik was kept in Miami for three weeks before being sent to a detention center in Texas. Sakeik later told her husband she was shackled by the hands and legs as she walked through the airport, he said. Last week, after more than three months in custody, federal authorities moved to deport Sakeik, according to Shaikh and her attorney. On the morning of June 12, Sakeik was awakened and told she was being deported, according to her husband. After many detainees were rounded up, she was taken to the Fort Worth Alliance Airport, her husband said. MORE: Mahmoud Khalil thanks supporters after release, vows to continue advocating for Palestinians When she asked for travel documents or to be told where she was being taken, an officer told her she was being taken to the Israeli border, according to Shaikh. After waiting at the airport for two hours, Sakeik, four other Palestinians and an Egyptian man were returned to detention facilities, according to Shaikh. "An ICE officer [the next] morning came and said, 'The only reason your plane didn't come is because Israel bombed Iran last night, and there was a safety protocol that no flights were going to be flown into Israel,'" Shaikh told ABC News. Neither Sakeik nor her attorney were given written notification of where she was being deported, her husband and attorney said. Her attorney sought a stay of removal that would keep her in the U.S. after the government moved to deport her last week, and on Monday he was told her removal "is not imminent," Elsaban told ABC News. DHS initially told ABC News Sakeik "left the U.S." when she traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands -- a U.S. territory. "The arrest of Ward Sakeik was not part of a targeted operation by ICE. She chose to leave the country and was then flagged by [Customs and Border Patrol] trying to reenter the U.S.," Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to ABC News. When ABC News asked if the government's stance was that travel to the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory, constitutes someone choosing to "leave the country," DHS provided an updated statement. "She chose to fly over international waters and outside the U.S. customs zone and was then flagged by CBP trying to reenter the continental U.S.," McLaughlin said in a second statement. DHS said that Sakeik is in the U.S. illegally. MORE: Judge rules DHS violated court order in deporting 8 migrants to South Sudan "She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade," McLaughlin said in the statement. "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S." McLaughlin said that Sakeik's appeal of the final order of removal was rejected by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2014. "She has exhausted her due process rights and all of her claims for relief have been denied by the courts," the statement said. DHS did not comment on the order of supervision Sakeik and her attorney say makes her status in the U.S. legal. DHS also did not respond to ABC News' questions asking why Sakeik was detained when she had presented valid travel documents that she says TSA had told her would suffice ahead of her trip or why, according to Sakeik, she was told she would be sent to the Israeli border when she has never lived in the region and is not a national of any country. DHS also did not respond to whether it was violating a standing court order that bars the removal of migrants to third countries without a proper chance to challenge these removals. The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to deport migrants. Last month, a federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration's deportations of eight men -- who the administration alleged were convicted of violent crimes -- to South Sudan "unquestionably" violated an earlier order by not giving them adequate due process, including a "meaningful opportunity to object" to their removals to a country other than their own. Shaikh, who said he has visited his wife 18 times in the months that she's been held in detention, also submitted a green card application for Sakeik in February -- two days after she was detained. Her application is pending. Referring to his wife's family, Shaikh said, "They don't want to live like this. My wife has tried every route to adjust her status."

2 hours ago

GOP's food stamp plan is found to violate Senate rules. It's the latest setback for Trump's big bill

WASHINGTON -- In another blow to the Republicans' tax and spending cut bill, the Senate parliamentarian has advised that a proposal to shift some food stamps costs from the federal government to states — a centerpiece of GOP savings efforts — would violate the chamber's rules. While the parliamentarian's rulings are advisory, they are rarely, if ever, ignored. The Republican leadership was scrambling on Saturday, days before voting is expected to begin on President Donald Trump's package that he wants to be passed into law by the Fourth of July. The loss is expected to be costly to Republicans. They have been counting on some tens of billions of potential savings from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, to help offset the costs of the $4.5 trillion tax breaks plan. The parliamentarian let stand for now a provision that would impose new work requirements for older Americans, up to age 65, to receive food stamp aid. 'We will keep fighting to protect families in need,' said Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, which handles the SNAP program. 'The Parliamentarian has made clear that Senate Republicans cannot use their partisan budget to shift major nutrition assistance costs to the states that would have inevitably led to major cuts,' she said. The committee chairman, Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said in a statement that his team is examining options that would comply with Senate rules to achieve savings and "to ensure SNAP serves those who truly need it while being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.' The parliamentarian's ruling is the latest in a series of setbacks as staff works through the weekend, often toward midnight, to assess the 1,000-page proposal. It all points to serious trouble ahead for the bill, which was approved by the House on a party-line vote last month over unified opposition from Democrats and is now undergoing revisions in the Senate. At its core, the goal of the multitrillion-dollar package is to extend tax cuts from Trump's first term that would otherwise expire if Congress fails to act. It also adds new ones, including no taxes on tips or overtime pay. To help offset the costs of lost tax revenue, the Republicans are proposing cutbacks to federal Medicaid, health care and food programs — some $1 trillion. Additionally, the package boosts national security spending by about $350 billion, including to pay for Trump's mass deportations, which are running into protests nationwide. Trump has implored Republicans, who have the majority in Congress, to deliver on his top domestic priority, but the details of the package, with its hodgepodge of priorities, is drawing deeper scrutiny. All told, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the package, as approved by the House, would add at least $2.4 trillion to the nation's red ink over the decade and leave 10.9 million more people without health care coverage. Additionally, it would reduce or eliminate food stamps for more than 3 million people. The parliamentarian's office is tasked with scrutinizing the bill to ensure it complies with the so-called Byrd Rule, which is named after the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, and bars many policy matters in the budget reconciliation process now being used. Late Friday, the parliamentarian issued its latest findings. It determined that Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee's proposal to have the states pick up more of the tab for covering food stamps — what Republicans call a new cost-sharing arrangement — would be in violation of the Byrd Rule. Many lawmakers said the states would not be able to absorb the new requirement on food aid, which has long been provided by the federal government. They warned many would lose access to SNAP benefits used by more than 40 million people. Initially, the CBO had estimated about $128 billion in savings under the House's proposal to shift SNAP food aid costs to the states. Cost estimates for the Senate's version, which made changes to the House approach, have not yet been made publicly available. The parliamentarian's office rulings leave GOP leaders with several options. They can revise the proposals to try to comply with Senate rules or strip them from the package altogether. They can also risk a challenge during floor voting, which would require the 60-vote threshold to overcome. That would be unlikely in the split chamber with Democrats opposing the overall package. The parliamentarian's latest advice also said the committee's provision to make certain immigrants ineligible for food stamps would violate the rule. It found several provisions from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which is led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to be in violation. They include one to provide $250 million to Coast Guard stations damaged by fire in 2025, namely one on South Padre Island in Texas. Still to come are some of the most important rulings from the parliamentarian. One will assess the GOP's approach that relies on 'current policy' rather than 'current law' as the baseline for determining whether the bill will add to the nation's deficits. Already, the parliamentarian delivered a serious setback Thursday, finding that the GOP plan to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was a core proposal coming from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, would be in violation of the Byrd Rule. The parliamentarian has also advised of violations over provisions from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that would rollback Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards on certain vehicles and from the Senate Armed Services Committee to require the defense secretary to provide a plan on how the Pentagon intends to spend the tens of billions of new funds. The new work requirements in the package would require many of those receiving SNAP or Medicaid benefits to work 80 hours a month or engage in other community or educational services.