Four reasons why Chicago should dump its sanctuary status – Wirepoints

Chicago is a monument to inept and corrupt governance. The last thing it needs to do is welcome new people who will put further demands on faltering city services. From Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner at wirepoints.org:

Many Chicagoans are outraged that city and state officials are prioritizing a growing number of illegal immigrants over residents and their communities.

Not only do these Chicagoans feel their safety is being compromised, they see attention and services being directed to non-citizens – “exactly the kind of services South Side residents say they have begged for and been denied.” City and state officials will spend over $1.1 billion for Medicaid benefits and at least another $280 million on shelter and housing for illegals.

Struggling Chicagoans are right to protest the city’s “sanctuary” designation. Chicago is already failing dramatically to take care of its own citizens.

Nearly one in every five Chicago residents lives in poverty. Crime continues to jump even as the pandemic and George Floyd’s murder become more distant. The city’s public schools fail to educate children. Jobs are hard to come by for too many minorities. And the city can’t even afford the social programs it already has in place.

By encouraging an influx of people the city can’t handle, Chicago’s politicians are making the overall situation for everyone worse off.

Here are four major reasons why they should focus on the city’s own crises first before taking on the problems of other countries:

1. Chicago can’t take care of its own poor.

Nearly 450,000 of Chicago’s residents, or just over 17%, live below the poverty line – $27,479 for a family of four in 2021. Chicago has the 8th-worst poverty rate among the nation’s most populous cities and its status as a sanctuary city may guarantee that the already-bad ranking gets worse.

Continue reading