Chicago residents in MAGA hats tear into Democrat mayor for allotting $70million to migrants: 'We need the money more than they do!'

Livid Chicago residents dressed in MAGA hats tore into the city's mayor for allotting $70million to migrants. 

Concerned citizens spoke directly to Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday during a gathering where officials were originally expected to vote on funding for migrants in the Windy City. 

Johnson, a progressive democrat, has long defended the city's sanctuary policies and on Friday, he planned to get the aldermen to accept the requested funds, even though the city has already invested $300million on the crisis. 

One woman, dressed in a red MAGA cowboy hat and a 'Chicago RED' t-shirt slammed Johnson and said: 'We need that money in my neighborhood, we need that money on my block.' 

'So I'm asking ya'll to use our tax money for our people, we need it,' she added. The alderman deferred the request for funds after the council expressed their concerns. 

While frustrated residents insisted that the money is needed elsewhere, others warned Johnson that if the funds go toward migrants, they will vote Johnson out of office. 

'Vote for the money for these immigrants today and we coming for those seats, you can believe that,' another woman said during the meeting. 

Following the meeting, Johnson laughed about the citizen's threatening to recall him and insisted that past mayors have done worse. 

We've had mayors close schools, we've had mayors who have shut down public housing,' he said. 

'So any individual who is somehow insulted by this progressive agenda that is being led by one of the most diverse cabinets in the history of Chicago — I just call into question anyone who would be motivated to see this type of transformation disrupted,' Johnson added. 

The challenged governor added that the 'extreme right wing' in the US is 'intimidated by the fact that we’ve passed paid time off [for] thousands of workers. We’ve abolished sub-minimum wage, which has its roots in history in slavery.' 

Currently, Johnson cannot be kicked out of office under Illinois state law, which only allows the governor to be recalled. The mayor made it clear that he plans 'to be here for the next 23 years.' 

Dan Boland, 58, a former technology salesman, has formed a political action group to raise money to challenge the state law. 

Boland told Chicago Sun Times that the petition, which would put a referendum on the November ballot, was not created to 'hurt' Johnson, but was introduced to 'help and empower' Chicago citizens. 

'We can’t let Chicago circle the rim for another three years,' Boland said. 'We need to get out of this cycle and fix things… if [Johnson] can’t fix it, we need to get someone in there who can.' 

Boland expressed that people of Chicago are also concerned about the rampant crime that has taken over since migrants entered. 

'People can't go out and even go to the grocery store without getting mugged. People can't sell their tamales out on the street without getting accosted by people who are armed,' Boland said. 

'These are armed juvenile thugs. That's one reason that just put it over the top for me.' 

If Johnson does get the $70million approved, it would be taken from the city's 2022 fund balance, Budget Director Annette Guzman said in a statement on Monday. 

In March, Johnson was widely criticized for refusing to be completely transparent on how hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars had gone to the city's homeless shelters amid a migrant crisis.  

The Windy City has struggled to care for more than 34,000 asylum-seekers bussed in from the border by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. 

The city has only provided full transparency on funding for a third of the city's 27 shelters. 

Other shelters like the site in the city's Pilsen neighborhood are getting $280,000 a week, with the Ogden shelter getting $150,000 a week. These shelters are servicing 2,000 and 1,000 migrants, respectively and pocketing millions over the last three months. 

At the time, Johnson joined the mayors of New York and Denver, which are also inundated with migrants, to call for the crisis to be declared a federal emergency, freeing up funds to bail out the struggling cities.

Shelters in converted warehouses in Chicago have been filled to the brim with new arrivals living in poor conditions, leading to the city commandeering other venues. 

Johnson has insisted the city would not open any more migrant shelters, and called on Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to make good on promises to build its own ones. 

Mayor Johnson himself says the huge influx of migrants is unsustainable, but he can't turn them away because Chicago is a 'sanctuary city'.

He blamed both the Biden Administration and Texas for his city struggling to care for the about 15,000 asylum-seekers crammed into 28 shelters across the city.

Governor Abbott has sent more than 25,300 migrants to Chicago since August 2022, on buses.