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Illegal immigrants are not tenting out at Chicago’s two main airports after the Senate Commerce Committee probed the mayor’s workplace this yr about how a lot in federal sources was being spent to maintain them there.
Per week after the committee’s letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson in late January, the migrants have been quietly relocated after being camped out at O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport for months. Johnson’s workplace, the airports nor the Federal Aviation Administration responded to Fox News Digital’s repeated requests for remark about the place the migrants have been transferred.
“Mayor Johnson’s office is still withholding crucial information from Congress and taxpayers about the housing of illegal aliens at O’Hare airport,” Senate Republican Commerce Committee spokesperson Melissa Braid instructed Fox News Digital in a press release Thursday night time.
SENATE COMMERCE REPUBLICANS PROBE MIGRANT SHELTERS AT CHICAGO AIRPORTS
Recently arrived migrants are proven in a makeshift shelter operated by town of Chicago at O’Hare International Airport on Aug. 31, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service by way of Getty Images)
“Lawmakers are actively working on aviation safety and funding legislation. The requested information will help ensure taxpayer airport infrastructure money is being used for valid purposes rather than diverted to pay for sanctuary airports caused by Biden’s open border crisis,” she mentioned.
According to a Chicago Tribune report final month, Johnson’s workplace introduced there have been no extra migrants camped out on the airports. The removing comes as hundreds of migrants have been additionally moved from Chicago’s police stations in December.
The report famous that Johnson’s deputy chief of employees, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, instructed reporters the removing was a part of an ongoing effort to quickly place migrants in shelters or housing in different cities. Pacione-Zayas famous that the $150 million Johnson earmarked for the emergency migrant response this yr would probably be spent by April.
Migrants obtain meals outdoors the migrant touchdown zone in Chicago on Jan. 12, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP by way of Getty Images)
“Every day we’re in meetings, on calls with the state, with the county, to figure out what the long-term plan is to get through the calendar year together,” Pacione-Zayas mentioned.
The Republicans, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote to Johnson in regards to the metropolis’s transfer to deal with migrants at O’Hare International Airport since March 2023 and, extra just lately, at Midway International Airport. Images emerged final yr of a whole lot of migrants camped out in a bit of O’Hare. It got here as town struggled to take care of an inflow of tens of hundreds of migrants since mid-2022.
“Repurposing airport amenities and infrastructure to deal with unlawful aliens not solely degrades taxpayers’ funding within the nationwide airport system however, at the least within the case of O’Hare, as federally-funded airport amenities are withdrawn from public entry and use, it violates the requirement that these federally funded amenities ‘be available for public use as an airport,” the letter reads.
“No rational person would define an airport as a facility that houses illegal aliens,” they write.
Recently arrived migrants are proven in a makeshift shelter operated by town of Chicago at O’Hare International Airport on Aug. 31, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service by way of Getty Images)
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The lawmakers sought solutions in regards to the variety of migrants being housed on the airports, the associated prices, the hazards it has created, if it obtained any federal waivers, and if it consulted with the TSA on issues of aviation security and safety.
The committee says it has not obtained a response from town.
Last yr, Johnson boasted about his administration’s efforts to supply housing, well being care and education for the migrants coming to town, however he has appealed for added federal assist to maintain up with the continued demand.
He’s additionally requested for practically $5 billion in help from the Biden administration.
On Wednesday, the committee despatched further letters to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Massachusetts Port Authority for extra details about the sheltering of migrants at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Boston Logan International Airport.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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