Mayor Brandon Johnson faces backlash from residents over $70M for migrant crisis
Chicago residents confront mayor over migrant funding: 'Most disrespectful thing we've ever encountered'
Chicago resident 'P-Rae' Easley thanked Mayor Brandon Johnson for uniting the city against his effort to repurpose their tax dollars for illegal immigrants during 'Fox & Friends.'
An outraged Chicago resident spoke out against Mayor Brandon Johnson for re-purposing tax dollars for illegal immigrants shortly before the city is set to vote on a $70 million proposal to bolster sanctuary city resources.
"P-Rae" Easley called out Johnson for the "disrespectful" effort to use residents' hard-earned tax dollars for the migrant crisis during "Fox & Friends," but also thanked him for inadvertently uniting the city against the proposal.
"It's the most disrespectful thing we've ever encountered in our lives," Easley told Lawrence Jones on Friday.
"We've been paying property taxes in the city for generations, and to see them so openly give our money to people who don't deserve it is very insulting. … I want to thank our mayor for uniting the city in a way that we haven't seen since the '96 Bulls, and that's against him and this progressive agenda," she said later in the interview, referencing the NBA team's dynasty under Michael Jordan.
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Her remarks come after she and other residents showed up in force at a City Council meeting on Wednesday to protest the liberal mayor's request for an additional $70 million in taxpayers' funds to be spent on tackling the migrant crisis, while a petition that would give residents the right to recall the mayor is gathering traction.
The progressive mayor, who has vigorously defended the city’s sanctuary policies in the past, wants aldermen to greenlight the extra cash despite the Windy City having already poured $300 million into housing, food and health care for migrants, according to the city's latest numbers.
"They're showing up here in New York and Chicago attacking people in the streets," another resident said on Wednesday. "The police are fighting with them in the… shelters that you guys are funding."
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The $70 million, should the full City Council approve the proposal, will be drawn from the city’s assigned fund balance from 2022, Budget Director Annette Guzman said Monday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Easley slammed city leaders for entertaining the allocation given the fact the city has struggled to provide funding for basic city resources like education.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson gives an update on migrant issues at City Hall on Jan. 29, 2024, in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"It's extremely insulting," she said. "They've been telling us my entire life that they don't have money for this. They don't have money for that. We have to compromise. We must go without, but now we're seeing that they are able to print money out of the clear blue sky, and we want to know why wasn't our tax money given to us?"
Easley suggested that because the city has been united against Johnson's progressive agenda, Chicago voters are likely to head to the polls in droves in November to invoke change at the national level.
"We are looking forward to bringing back Donald John Trump Sr. as our 47th president," Easley said. "He's the only president who has a plan to close the southern border, which is going to cut off the pipeline of human and drug trafficking that's flooding the West side of Chicago, and we cannot wait to get you back in office. Mr. President, please come see us in Chicago."
Fox News' Michael Dorgan and Garrett Tenney contributed to this report.
Bailee Hill is an associate editor with Fox News Digital. Story ideas can be sent to
