Chicago lawmakers are slammed for blocking efforts to put sanctuary city status on ballot after Windy City was inundated by 20,000 migrants

Chicago's Democrat leaders have been accused of hiding from voters in a city buckling under a migrant crisis after they blocked a vote on ditching its sanctuary city status.

Mayor Brandon Johnson ordered his lieutenants to quash a bid to put the controversial 'Welcoming City Ordinance' to a referendum on Chicago's March primary ballot.

It came after the mayor's floor leader was forced to resign for physically blocking opponents trying to access a previous vote on the issue last month.

'What are you scared of? To let the people have a voice? The truth?' demanded Alderman Anthony Beale as his latest bid was blocked on Thursday.

'That's all this question is asking, is to let the people have a say.'

The city expects to spend $300 million this year on coping with more than 24,000 migrants who have arrived in the city after crossing the Mexican border since August last year.

It spent nearly $1 million on a tent camp in Brighton Park before tests revealed the soil was too poisonous to live on, and more than 3,000 migrants are still waiting for shelter as arctic winter temperatures start to bite.

City authorities have faced a furious backlash from residents as parks and public facilities have been commandeered to house the newcomers who are still arriving at a rate of 700 a week.

More than 300 are still living on the floors of the city's police stations and conditions are so bad that some have decided to return home to South America.

Sanctuary city status means that city officials are forbidden from asking questions about a person's immigration status, or revealing it to federal authorities.

Police in the city are not allowed to arrest anyone solely because they are an illegal immigrant, and the city will not co-operate with an investigation by immigration authorities unless ordered to by a court.

More than 560 cities, states and counties across the US have declared themselves sanctuaries, and Chicago adopted the status in 1985.

But sanctuary cities have been a favorite target of governors on the southern border who have bussed thousands of migrants north to them as the migration crisis has gathered steam.

Johnson was among five Democratic city mayors who headed to DC last month to beg the Biden administration for a staggering $5 billion in federal funds to deal with the issue. 

'Our cities need additional resources that far exceed the amount proposed in order to properly care for the asylum seekers entering our communities,' they wrote.

'Relying on municipal budgets is not sustainable and has forced us to cut essential city services.'

Johnson accused his opponents of 'meanness' and claimed a public vote on sanctuary status would do nothing to address the strain from migrants.

'This is a crisis, and as I've said, it's not going to go away because people are upset,' he told reporters on Wednesday.

'Now unfortunately, you have individuals that have used this as a way to execute its meanness.

'That type of meanness has caused the type of strife that we're experiencing now.'

But Beale accused the mayor of cowardice.

'It is a shame that you all are scared,' he told the city council meeting.

'Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are spending money frivolously in this body? 'Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are headed in the wrong direction?

'I figured you all had something up your sleeve, but let me just say that it is a shame.'