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Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson back out of Texas trip after 'vacation' backlash

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will send a team of delegates to visit Texas instead

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson backtracked on his plan of visiting the US-Mexico border in Texas to witness the migrant crisis firsthand following immense backlash.

Earlier this month, on October 4, Johnson announced his trip to the southern border, per ABC Chicago.

However, on Monday, October 16, the mayor reversed his plans to visit the southern border himself. Instead, he said a small group of delegates would go for the trip.

The mayor’s office said in the statement on Monday, “The Mayor, along with senior aides and key operations personnel, will stay in Chicago to address the immediate urgency of adding shelter space to house thousands of new arrivals sleeping in police stations, airports or outside,” per Daily Mail.

It also stated that the delegation that will visit Texas will instead consist of a group led by the deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant, and refugee rights, Beatriz Ponce de Leon.

Per WGNTV, the mayor’s delegation will be visiting the primary points of passage for the Chicago-bound migrants including El Paso, San Antonio, McAllen, and Brownsville.

The Texas-bound team will “review operations at federal processing centers, and municipal and NGO-led transit sites, and begin discussions with local stakeholders about ways to alleviate the financial and operations challenges in both Chicago and at the border.”

The statement read in part, “A point of emphasis will be establishing better lines of communication and collecting migrant data to expedite work authorization processing and the transition to self-sufficiency.”

The group will also be sharing information on the asylum seekers in Chicago facing housing and the extreme weather conditions along with the “challenges awaiting those without verified sponsors.”

The team will be providing updates to the mayor and after the conclusion of the first trip, and a follow up trip will be planned.

The statement further added, “With the weather growing colder and hundreds of migrants arriving each day, it is more important than ever that every stakeholder at the state, federal and local level work diligently to address this challenge, while continuing to meet the needs of Chicago and Illinois residents.”

Why did Mayor Brandon Johnson initially plan the trip to Texas?

Earlier this month, Johnson first made his intention known to visit the southern state to assess the crisis firsthand. 

He said, "We need to go assess the situation," before adding, "This is serious. And I've been saying it. I mean this ain't the first time you've heard me say how serious this dynamic is," ABC Chicago reported.

He further added, "So, going to the border is to make sure that everybody knows that my administration is committed to making sure that we are putting together the full force of government at every single level to ensure that these families, who, by the way, they're not illegal, they're asylum seekers, they are protected by international law.”

However, following his statement, the mayor was bombarded with harsh criticism as detractors accused him of vacationing on taxpayers’ money.

'A free vacation on the taxpayers back'

Johnson's decision of going to Texas to witness the immigrant crisis first hand drew immense backlash from citizens who flocked to the social media to criticize him.

One of the social medis users called him out by saying, "A free vacation on the taxpayers back."

"My bet is he's going to wind up being even worse then Lightfoot was when it comes to travel and enjoying perks on the tax payer dime," said someone else.

Another social mediua user remarked, "Maybe his using that as excuse vacation like Ted Cruz vacating his people after all his family needs him right ?"

Several netizens came up with hilarious reasons as well, with one saying, "Maybe he just has a hankering for some of those breakfast tacos?"

"All of them?? it's vacay on the chicago taxpayers," said another angry social media user.

Another netizen remarked, "Hoping for a bigger payday on a national stage to impress his Democratic comrades."

Migrant crisis in Chicago

Per the Office of Emergency Management and Communications figure, almost 18,500 migrants have come to the city from August 2022 till Monday.

OEMC says that while 11,241 are housed in city shelters, more than 3,800 are living in police stations and airport, per WGNTV.

The administrators say that the city is opening a new shelter every six days.