Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson along with other blue city mayors are meeting with Biden administration officials Thursday to ask for help handling an influx of migrants that have flooded their areas, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Johnson and mayors from Denver, Houston and Los Angeles plan to meet with Tom Perez, the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, in a mission to ask the federal government for funding to address the increasing migrant crisis, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Democratic mayors, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams, wrote a letter Wednesday to the White House, demanding an “urgent” meeting with President Joe Biden about the crisis that has left the cities without enough resources to handle the sudden influx, the New York Post reported. (RELATED: KJP Claims Biden Has Done ‘More’ For The Border Than Anyone Else)
Democratic New York City Major Eric Adams, who has been critical of Biden’s handling of the migrant crisis, was supposed to attend the meeting but canceled just moments before it was about to commence, according to the New York Post. The mayor is returning to New York and it is unclear why he canceled.
US President Joe Biden shakes hands with Texas Governor Greg Abbott after Abbott handed him a letter outlining the problems on the southern border upon arrival at El Paso International Airport in El Paso, Texas, on January 8, 2023. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
In his latest move to address the growing border crisis, Biden requested in October that Congress approve a nearly $106 billion aid package that coupled more than $61 billion to Ukraine, $14.3 billion to Israel and $13.6 billion to the nation’s border crisis, with $1.4 billion of the funds going to state and local governments struggling to handle an influx of migrants. It’s unclear which cities the funds will go to.
Blue city leaders previously told the Daily Caller they were disappointed with the White House’s move to bury border funding in a package focused on international issues. The leaders added that not introducing a stand alone border package is “disheartening” and a “mistake.”
“I think that is where it is so disheartening to learn that it’s tucked into a package deal that has nothing to do with immigration or our border,” Democratic Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez told the Daily Caller. “It focuses on the war on Israel and the war in Ukraine. We need to have a comprehensive thought-out discussion on how we’re going to secure our border and what we’re going to do for the 4 million people who have crossed into this country since October of last year.”