More migrants arrive in Chicago as Mayor Lightfoot declares state of emergency

We begin with breaking news in the migrant crisis tonight. The White House will announce a new plan to deal with the growing problem tomorrow. It is a sweeping new restriction on asylum, but there's also a warning from the President tonight. He says it will be chaotic at the border before it gets better. This comes tonight as Chicago declares a state of emergency over the migrant crisis. In fact, new arrivals coming late tonight as the Mayor says more money is needed to handle the growing problem. CBS2's Chris Tye live for us at one of the shelters in the loop tonight.

Joe and Erica, the city of Chicago has seven migrant shelters like the one behind me and three respite centers. All of them are at capacity tonight. This emergency declaration by Mayor Lightfoot unlocks new dollars to solve this problem that she says has a lot of blame to go around from the Texas governor's mansion to the White House. Off a busted bus with one bad to their name. This is what night one of asylum looks like for two dozen men who've traveled days to make it to this Chicago shelter. Where are you guys going to talk to us today? Venezuela. Yes.

When did you get into Chicago? When did you get into Chicago? I'm going to Chicago. I'm going to Chicago. I'm going to Chicago. I'm going to Chicago. Today. We're asking for help to find a future for our family, he says. That's what we came here for.

That's what he came here for, and since August, that's what 8,000 have come to Chicago for. Sadly, we don't expect the buses to stop arriving anytime soon. And importantly, we've seen in the last couple weeks, a new surge in migrants coming to Chicago on a daily basis. 48 of today's arrivals were dispatched by the Texas governor. On average, one to 200 asylum seekers arrive in Chicago daily. When the surge began last fall, the federal dollars followed. Chicago receiving five and a half million dollars from FEMA.

This spring, that number has dropped to four million. Why? That's an interesting question. While Lightfoot has blamed Governor Abbott of Texas, she's now signaling the lack of leadership and financial support from the White House. We have made our disappointment known through the appropriate channels. She says she'd like the feds to develop a larger plan to address the problem and give these asylum seekers a green light to work while they're here. If we could put people to work legally, it would lessen the strain on all of our resources. Those spending the night in this loop facility are among the lucky ones.

These departments are also housing families fresh to Chicago. A last resort the mayor calls dangerous. We don't have any more space. I cannot emphasize that enough. This emergency declaration also allows the mayor to ask Governor Pritzker to mobilize the Illinois National Guard. She says at this point they are not making that request. Lightfoot says she has been in touch with Brandon Johnson's team as he takes over as Chicago mayor next Monday to make sure they are up to speed.

At the request of some alderman, her team has explored whether or not some vacant big box stores may be able to take in some of these migrants. She says the demands for that kind of a property think places to sleep and bathe and eat. None of them meet those prerequisites. Live in the loop, Chris Tai, CBS 2 News. Chris, thank you.

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