Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference Tuesday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in response to the surge of asylum seekers Chicago has seen this spring and left open the possibility of calling on the National Guard to help the city with staffing in shelters. 

The mayor declared the state of emergency as aldermen were meeting to amend this year’s budget to add funding to support arriving asylum seekers through June. 

Lightfoot’s four-year term as mayor will conclude Monday when Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is sworn in, but Lightfoot said during a Tuesday news conference that even in her final days as mayor it is important to respond "to this burgeoning crisis." 

Surrounded by leaders of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services, Office of New Americans and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, Lightfoot said facilities set up to house migrants in Chicago are currently full, and 48 individuals and families in need of emergency support had arrived Tuesday by 2:30 p.m. More than 8,000 migrants have been sent to Chicago by plane and bus since August, and the rate they’re arriving has ballooned in the past few weeks. 

"This crisis is not only exhausting our city's resources, but it's flat out dangerous for the individuals and families who have been wrapped up in this political stuff," Lightfoot said. 

The emergency declaration "reserve[s] the authority to request the Governor of the State of Illinois to mobilize the National Guard to provide staffing and logistical support to address this emergency in the City of Chicago."  

Lightfoot on Tuesday said she has not yet requested the mobilization of the National Guard but it "may reach a point where we do need further assistance," particularly with staffing, which is the biggest expense and challenge facing the city. 

Still, even if the National Guard is called up, Lightfoot said their resources are not “a panacea.”   

“They have limited abilities and durations of time” that should be used wisely and not as a long-term solution, Lightfoot said. 

The emergency declaration also gives the city’s chief procurement officer emergency purchasing authority to respond to the crisis. Lightfoot said she expects that authority to  mainly be used to boost staffing. 

Lightfoot called on the federal government to “solve this problem” and criticized the amount of funding the city has received. She said the $5.5 million the city received last year and the just over $4 million the city received this year from the federal government is a “slap in the face.” 

The federal government isn’t working fast enough to empower migrants to legally obtain jobs in the U.S. after they arrive, the mayor said. 

“If we could put people to work legally, it would lessen the strain on our resources,” Lightfoot said. “When there's no outflow from our shelters because folks can't work legally, that presents a huge challenge, not just here in Chicago, but all across the nation.” 

Just before Lightfoot’s news conference discussing the emergency executive order, members of the City Council Committee on Budget and Government Operations  approved an ordinance (SO2023-1605) that would use $51 million from the city’s 2021 surplus to close an expected gap in funding to support migrants through the end of June. Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41), Ald. David Moore (17) and Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38) voted “no” on the ordinance. 

Related: Mid-year budget amendment would close $53M shortfall in funding to support asylum seekers as Chicago asks state, federal government for more resources 

 Chicago is now seeing between 100 and 150 people arriving in the city per day, Department of Family and Support Services Comm. Brandie Knazze said Tuesday.  

Budget Director Susie Park told aldermen support for asylum seekers through June is expected to cost $112 million. 

While the city on Monday opened Brands Park in the 33rd Ward as a location for migrants to wait for shelter, the 125-seat space was already filled by Tuesday, Knazze said. 

Knazze said she is continuing to talk with aldermen and city parks about identifying available spaces but reiterated to aldermen that "this is an unprecedented time.” 

As space has been limited in the city’s seven shelters and three respite centers, some new arrivals are staying in police stations across the city as they wait for shelter space. As of Tuesday, more than 400 migrants were waiting in police stations. 

Chicago has been requesting financial assistance from the state and federal governments since the crisis began and "to date has not received the level of funding that is needed to address this emergency,” Park said last month. 

The city has received $30 million from the state and more than $4 million from the federal government this year, Park said Tuesday. 

Chicago is awaiting guidance on applying to FEMA's next competitive grant program that will issue $450 million in grants, Park said, adding that the next round of funding is intended to go toward interior cities, rather than border cities. 

Still, Tuesday’s initial approval of the $51 million budget amendment is only "creating that runway" to get Chicago to the next and more difficult conversation where the "real decision" will be made on continued funding for migrants.  

"This is a city operation at this point,” Park said about who is funding the majority of Chicago’s response to the migrant crisis. 

Some aldermen, including Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) who is retiring at the end of this week, continued voicing concern that the city isn’t communicating with or seeking input from aldermen when deciding where migrant shelters are opened. 

Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22) took a different tone as he called into the meeting from his car while on a visit to a site in his ward that could serve as a migrant shelter. 

“My community has raised their hand to support” the asylum seekers arriving in Chicago, Rodriguez said, adding he has heard “loud and clear from many in the community who know what’s going on in these police stations. This is a humanitarian crisis.”