Expect Chicago’s migrant crisis to intensify as Democratic National Convention draws near, top mayoral aide says

A busload of migrants leaves Chicago’s Union Station, headed to a refugee center in August 2022. In the year since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott started sending busloads of migrants to Chicago, more than 13,000 have arrived. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

Chicago could experience a fivefold increase in arriving migrants — up to 10 busloads a day — sent here by Republican governors trying to embarrass and strain Democratic sanctuary cities in the run-up to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, a top mayoral aide said Monday.

Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, predicted the burgeoning crisis that has seen over 13,000 migrants descend on the city over the last year will intensify the closer it gets to the Chicago convention next August.