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Cristina Pacione-Zayas, first deputy chief of staff for Mayor Brandon Johnson, told a City Council committee that the administration wants to build the infrastructure for a welcoming city for immigrants.
Most of the $51 million approved by the City Council during a recent tense meeting will go toward paying a national staffing firm that is providing around-the-clock personnel at the makeshift shelters where recently arrived asylum seekers are seeking refuge, according to a city official.
From buying supply space and city shelter sites to advocating for long-term change to immigration policies, Chicago grapples with the costs and needs of being a sanctuary city.
A City Council committee probed the city's response to the migrant crisis at the first of a new series of monthly hearings with Johnson administration officials.
Chicago is taking steps to open up to five new migrants shelters with a combined capacity of nearly 2,500 to grapple with a continued surge of asylum-seekers.