On Thursday, America First Legal (AFL) released new documents and data from its investigation into the Biden-Harris Administration’s disastrous immigration policies, including the flood of migrant criminal gangs into American communities, revealing how mass resettlement has turned cities like Chicago into struggling border towns. AFL obtained data from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) showing the foothold that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) has established in Chicago and emails from the Office of Illinois Governor Pritzker showing that the persistent busloads of new arrivals have strained the community’s resources and capacities.
The new documents and data show:
- The term “Tren de Aragua” was contained in adult arrest reports for 30 different individuals from the Chicago Police Department between January 1, 2023, and September 10, 2024.
- 412 buses filled with migrants arrived in Chicago between August 18, 2023, and November 27, 2023, increasing the total number of new arrivals from 13,000 to 26,677.
- By December 28, 2023, Chicago’s city shelters were housing 14,578 residents, including 5,001 minors.
- The shelters reported significant crime and medical needs, and the surrounding Chicago Public Schools reported enrolling more than 1,000 students from these new arrivals.
- Illinois Governor JB Pritzker used federal COVID-19 stimulus funding to provide “asylum seekers” with rental assistance to move them out of city shelters.
- The City of Chicago sought ways to obtain Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding for its shelters through other entities.
- FEMA organized “Federal Interagency Coordination Calls” with the White House, the National Security Council, and the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Health & Human Services for the state and local officials.
In February 2023, Border Czar Vice President Kamala Harris announced that her “Call to Action” initiative — to direct money to Central America — had raised an additional billion dollars to create “one million new jobs by 2032” in Central America to tackle “root causes” like poverty, violence, corruption, and climate change, which the administration believes are driving the migrant crisis. While Harris raised money to create jobs in Central America, the migrant crisis has worsened here in the United States.
Following reports of viral surveillance footage showing TdA members carrying guns and taking over an apartment complex in the City of Aurora, Colorado, AFL launched an investigation into the widespread presence of TdA, including Chicago, Illinois, where substantial TdA activity had been reported.
Today, AFL released data from CPD showing that it made 30 separate adult arrests in which the arrest report contained the term “Tren De Aragua” between January 1, 2023, and September 10, 2024.
Last month, AFL obtained emails from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office revealing that, by October 5, 2023, TdA became “a new threat developing amongst the newly arriving immigrant community” that “has strong human trafficking operations in Latin America and is likely engaged in sex and labor trafficking in the U.S.” The email from the Police Department Special Victims Unit provided “confirmation” to the Chief that the “criminal network” was “operating within the newly arrived immigrants” and was “victimiz[ing] members of that population.” One week later, after a meeting about TdA, the Special Victims Unit circulated an email sharing background information about the gang and stating that TdA “do[es] engage in a wide variety of crimes” and “are embedded in the South American migrant communities … in our area.” This is not surprising considering the sheer number of unvetted migrants that show up in Chicago every day.
Additionally, AFL obtained emails from the Office of Illinois Governor Pritzker showing how new migrants arrive on buses to Chicago daily, straining the city’s shelter system, law enforcement, health care, schools, and the entire community. Governor Pritzker’s office received regular “Chicago Shelter Operations Situation Reports” from the City of Chicago. The reports reveal that migrant shelters and the surrounding communities suffer from substantial criminal activity, including human trafficking, gang activity, gunfire, and various nuisances such as public defecation.
As of the August 18, 2023 report, “Chicago ha[d] received over 13,000 new arrivals”; “101 Buses have arrived in Chicago since Jan 1, 2023”; “93 Buses ha[d] arrived in Chicago since May 12, 2023”; and “[a]pproximately 25% of all new arrivals are minors.”
The Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to address the “root causes” of migration clearly failed, and more buses continued to arrive. By November 27, 2023, the numbers had increased to “26,677 New Arrivals”; “519 Buses … since 1 JAN 2023”; “510 Buses … since 12 MAY 2023”; and “[a]pproximately 26% … are minors.” By then, the City of Chicago realized the problem was even worse. It began counting those arriving by plane, and it realized it had to find a way to also track buses “dropping off passengers outside the Chicago city limits, specifically in adjacent suburbs.”
The City of Chicago recognized this was not an isolated issue, as the Biden-Harris Administration has turned every major city in America into a border town. City officials monitored how other big cities handled the migrant crisis, noting how New York lacked housing, how Denver was appropriating funds to nonprofits, and how they were tracking busloads of migrants from Texas to Los Angeles.
These arrivals would need shelter, and the City of Chicago struggled to provide it. As of the August 18, 2023 report, “There are 6,430 residents in city shelters,”; “There [we]re currently 1,874 minors in city shelters,” and “Total: 1278” were “awaiting placement from non-shelter locations.”
By December 28, 2023, there were “14,578 residents in city shelters” and “5,001 minors in city shelters.”
The City of Chicago relied on the Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of Chicago (“CCAC”) to locate housing and move them out of the city shelter system.
CCAC used Illinois’s Asylum Seeker Emergency Assistance Program (ASERAP) to provide “asylum seekers” with rental assistance so they could sign a lease and move out of the city shelters. ASERAP provided a $15,000 grant for three months of rental assistance.
ASERAP grants were funded by federal tax dollars from the 2021 COVID-19 stimulus package, but that money was intended to provide emergency rental assistance to American households.
By November 16, 2023, Illinois ran out of ASERAP money for new shelter arrivals, and Governor Pritzker was asking for more federal intervention.
Local residents protested that scarce housing was being offered to illegal immigrants. While the City of Chicago had already received millions of dollars from FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program, it also sought FEMA funding for shelters through other entities. For example, FEMA awarded tens of millions of dollars in grants to other Catholic Charities along the southwest border of California and Texas.
In addition to providing money for sheltering illegal immigrants bused and flown into Chicago, FEMA would also organize “Federal Interagency Coordination Calls” with the White House, the National Security Council, and the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Health & Human Services for officials from the Illinois Governor’s Office, Cook County, and the City of Chicago.
Healthcare resources were also diverted from local residents to the medical demands of the new arrivals. Some brought Tuberculosis, lice, and other contagious illnesses, and some were pregnant, presumably to give birth to anchor babies in the United States.
The Chicago Public School system was also strained by thousands of migrant enrollments, leading to even more requests for additional funding.
The open-border policies of the Biden-Harris Administration have turned cities in Middle America like Chicago, Illinois, into struggling border towns filled with South American gang activity and a never-ending need for more shelter, health care, and education. Rather than advocate for enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, the failed political leadership running these cities only asks for more federal money, and the Biden-Harris Administration seems eager to provide it.
Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Executive Director:
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s open-border policies have wreaked havoc on communities all across the United States. The American people need protection, accountability from those responsible for this mess, and an Administration that believes in advancing the interests of the American people above all else,” said Gene Hamilton.
Read all the documents from the Chicago Police Department and the Illinois Governor’s Office here and here.
