CHICAGO -- The city of Chicago has spent more than $100 million to provide help and services to the thousands of migrants who have arrived in Chicago from south of the U.S. border since last August, mostly on personnel costs, officials said Wednesday.
The cost breakdown came during a hearing run by the City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which also voted to hold monthly meetings on the topic moving forward. Of the $101.3 million, $72.6 million was spent on staffing the migrant shelters that are run by the city but rely on outside nonprofits for day-to-day operations.
The next biggest buckets of migrant services funding: The city spent $10.6 million to house asylum-seekers outside of the shelters, $9.1 million on food, $4.1 million on facility maintenance, $4 million on rental assistance, $600,000 on legal services and $250,000 on transportation of the new arrivals.
