Financial records have exposed the staggering figure that Chicago taxpayers have been paying to house illegal border crossers in their so-called “sanctuary city.”
Chicago residents are outraged that the city paid a single medical firm a staggering $7.2 million to staff migrant shelters during a four-week period this spring.
“The situation is unacceptable, these contractors that are basically imposed on us are, in my opinion, unacceptable,” said Alderman Byron Sigcho-López.
NBC Chicago’s Bennett Haeberle said he obtained four weeks’ worth of invoices from Kansas-based Favorite Healthcare Staffing for hundreds of employees inside the city’s migrant shelters.
“We had to fight to get [the invoices],” said Haeberle.
“The invoices covered 400 employees who worked between April 22 to May 19, including one nurse who was paid $20,000 for a single week of work in December,” The Daily Mail reports.
“The same nurse made $16,536 for seven days of work in April.”
“The city appeared to reduce hourly rates after reports of their December invoices, but the lowest paid staff rates were still $50 per hour, with the most expensive being $156 per hour before overtime.”
To quell the outrage, Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson told the press he’s now going local to staff the shelters for illegals.
“We’ve put out an RFP to hire Chicagoans as well as Chicago businesses to be able to reduce the cost.”
On top of all this, Chicago and the state are also under fire for paying millions to provide an “unclear” amount of migrants $9,000 rental assistance over a six-month period.
The city has allocated $4 million to help migrants find temporary housing, and the state has contributed another $38 million.
It’s unclear how many migrants are currently benefiting from the program.
“That rent lasts for six months and ideally people would have started their legal process, secured legal work authorization, and be able to sustain that apartment,” said Ald. Pacione-Zayas.
“I guess the payment toward the landlord is based on market rate, it’s based on the configuration of the apartment.
“And so it varies from place to place.”
The $9,000 even includes furnishing costs, all courtesy of Chicago taxpayers.
The move appears to be a desperate attempt to free up space in the region’s now overcrowded migrant shelters.
READ MORE: Chicago Mayor Blames Lori Lightfoot for ‘Inherited’ Migrant Crisis