A Democratic leader in Chicago is publicly sounding the alarm that the impact the border crisis is having in the area, as well as the state’s response to it, could drive an increasing number of voters into the arms of Republicans. Zerlina Smith-Members, a Democratic activist who is a leader in the Chicago-Cook County Coalition for Humane Migration Management, says, “The immigration crisis is going to flip the state of Illinois purple.” She made the remarks during a recent interview with National Review, discussing the impact that tens of thousands of illegal aliens flooding into the city is having on local residents. Since August 2022, Chicago has received more than 35,000 migrants who entered the U.S. through the southern border, according to data released by city officials. Last year, migrants began receiving free services, including $160 million in housing funding and $70 million to provide healthcare, all despite a projected budget deficit of $538 million for 2024. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has also procured $640 million to address the migrant crisis, a massive financial investment that Smith-Members says should be going to city residents, rather than people “who have come here illegally, who have jumped the line.” Many within America’s left-wing political and media establishments have blamed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the crisis, following his decision to bus migrants to cities that prior to the crisis embraced the title of “sanctuary cities.” However, the strategy is no longer working with Chicago residents. “It’s a Biden thing. It’s a Pritzker thing. It’s a [Chicago Mayor] Brandon Johnson thing. They wanted sanctuary cities,” said Smith-Members, who is running for a seat on the Cook County commission. “It’s not Abbott’s fault, because he didn’t ask for it. We asked for it.” One resident who operates a business next to one of the city’s larger migrant shelters says that the area has seen a decline and has become “dirty” and a “breeding ground for rats” since the shelter opened. “There’s pizza boxes and wrappers and soda bottles and you name it just strewn throughout. There’s stuff everywhere. It’s very uncleanly,” Brandon Vulpitta, a co-owner of Brando’s Speakeasy karaoke and cocktail bar in the Chicago Loop — the financial heart of the city’s downtown — told National Review. He added that over the last year, he has seen fights, drug deals, and people illegally selling food out of the trunks of cars. “There’s a division in our Democratic Party. It has weakened. It is going to get worse,” Smith-Members said. “The city of Chicago voters have woke up. The state of Illinois voters have woke up. And they’re not standing with our old leadership.” As for the migrants, she added, “It would be cheaper for us to send them back than to keep them here.”Fueled by a surge of illegal aliens over the past two years, anger sweeping through the Illinois electorate now threatens to turn the state from solidly blue to purple.
