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A law enforcement organization has expressed frustration over the prioritization of illegal immigrant support by politicians in cities and states governed by Democrats. They argue that crucial issues like insufficient staffing and inadequate funding for police forces are being overshadowed.
New York City, for instance, is expected to allocate over $8.9 billion in 2024 and 2025 for services to illegal immigrants, as reported by the Fiscal Policy Institute. This significant expenditure primarily covers housing and support services.
The Illinois Policy Institute has highlighted that since 2021, the state has expended more than $2.5 billion on illegal immigrant care, with healthcare being the primary cost driver, surpassing initial financial projections.
In Chicago, the city spent approximately $255 million in 2022 and 2023 on necessities such as housing, food, clothing, and other forms of care for illegal immigrants, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
A police association shared with Fox News Digital their dissatisfaction, noting that officers are weary of seeing city funds directed towards illegal immigrant services instead of police needs. (John Moore/Getty Images and Fox News)
During one city council meeting in December 2024, one Chicago resident said she was fed up with the mass amounts of funding for illegal immigrants and wanted it to stop.
“I got a great way what we can do with this budget. First, let’s start with cutting off illegals getting free everything, free housing, free schooling, free food. Yeah, let’s start with that. That’ll save us a lot of money,” one woman said to Mayor Brandon Johnson.
National Police Association Spokeswoman Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith told Fox News Digital that law enforcement officers view the funding as unnecessary when their agencies are already understaffed, using Chicago as one example.
In 2022 and 2023 alone, Chicago reportedly spent around $255 billion on costs for illegal immigrants such as housing, food, clothing and other care. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
“It’s very frustrating for law enforcement,” she said. “There are so many financial resources spent toward illegal aliens, as well as all the political capital that is being spent right now in Chicago in support of illegal aliens.”
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is already nearly 1,000 officers down and its superintendent said city administrators asked him to come up with $98 million in budget cuts, according to ABC 7.
“We still have a lot of work to do. We’re going in the right direction,” CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling said. “It’s going to take some time, and we just have to make sure that our department is properly staffed to get that done.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor of Chicago for comment.
Groups of migrants of different nationalities arrive at the Rio Grande, to cross it and surrender to the American authorities. (Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Smith said the billions of dollars being spent on illegal immigrants should be redirected toward items such as police training and recruitment, which would help cities combat crime.
“They are tired of supporting illegal aliens and they are tired of hearing their politicians demonize law enforcement and ignore their needs,” Smith said. “Our government system was not designed to be able to support millions of people from other countries, especially at a time when we have so many people who are citizens of the United States and are really in need of assistance.”