It’s the Chicago way. Mayor Brandon Johnson quietly signed a contract for tents to house illegal aliens in Chicago with a controversial private security firm.
It’s not small potatoes at $29M but providing services for illegal aliens costs a lot of money. Ask Governor Abbott and the taxpayers in Texas. So far, Texas taxpayers, including my family, are into Biden’s border crisis to the tune of over $4B. Border states don’t have a lot of sympathy for sanctuary cities and states when it comes to them wailing about needing federal funds pronto to cope with the burden. Joe Biden doesn’t care. You’re on your own, Chicago, at least until right before the presidential election in 2024.
A million here, a million there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money. Mayor Johnson signed the contract as a one-year deal. The plan is to move 1,600 illegal aliens now living in police stations into tent camps around the city. The company, GardaWorld, is a controversial one. It is a Canadian firm headquartered in Montreal. It has been at the center of multiple immigration-related controversies. The contract specifies that “GardaWorld will provide “emergency logistics management and operation services that will set up shelter … and other necessary services for the new arrivals.”
This comes less than a week after Johnson announced plans to house illegal aliens that were bussed to Chicago from Texas by Governor Abbott. Johnson said Chicago welcomes everyone, regardless of legal status, so what’s the problem? Sanctuary cities keep virtue-signaling that they are prepared to welcome illegals with open arms and have the services available to take care of them. What happened? Chicago has to erect tents to house them, apparently. It beats putting them up in police stations.
The tents are more like yurts.
The contract also reportedly reveals previously unknown details about the tents these migrants would live in, explaining that soft-material “yurt” structures would fit 12 cots each and be outfitted with fire extinguishers and portable restrooms with makeshift kitchens set up nearby.
The company, on its website, says it “operate(s) across four continents” and has “responded to all major U.S. natural disasters, declared emergencies, and military conflicts since 2002.”
There are a lot of details that are unknown, including when the tent camps will be set up and begin operating and where they will be located. It isn’t clear that they will be heated but it seems like that is an unquestionable necessity, given Chicago’s brutally cold winters. Johnson indicated the tents would be winterized.
As mentioned above, the company is controversial. For example, Denver backed out of a deal the city negotiated with GardaWorld last summer.
GardaWorld has been at the center of a number of controversies in recent years. Earlier this summer, Denver negotiated a $40 million contract with GardaWorld, but Mayor Michael Hancock withdrew from the deal in June after local nonprofit leaders criticized the company, the Denver Post reported. Denver had planned to potentially use the company to take over sheltering operations for migrants in its city, but local leaders cried foul and pointed out that the company has a history of alleged abuses and mistreatment. For example, in September, the Office of the U.S. Inspector General found in 2022 that Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas, where GardaWorld had been contracted to provide assistance caring for unaccompanied minors who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, was providing “inadequate” service and had an “adverse effect on children’s well-being.” In Florida, a division of GardaWorld based in Boca Raton that provided armored truck services was caught taking shortcuts on safety, including spending so little on maintenance that trucks often lacked reliable brakes or seat belts and putting drivers with little training or a history of unsafe driving behind the wheels of its vehicle, according to a 2020 Tampa Bay Times investigation. The investigation also found that the company lost track of millions of dollars of client money.
Sanctuary cities pretend to want illegal aliens until illegal aliens show up. Then there are cries that there just isn’t any room for them and resources are limited. Welcome to the party, pal. That’s the point. No city is prepared to handle thousands of illegals, yet that is what the Biden border crisis has produced. The open border is no big deal until the illegals are bussed into Democrat-controlled cities. The porous southern border attracting more than 7 million illegal migrants during Biden’s term is no big deal as long as everyone remains in Texas. Biden is even considering putting a “Remain in Texas” provision along the border, like Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program that was successful. Switching the program up to have the illegals remain in Texas instead of being sent back over the border to wait in Mexico for their asylum claim to be processed is meant as a jab to border states like Texas, a red state. The Biden administration and other Democrats accuse Abbott of political stunts because he is calling attention to the humanitarian crisis at the southern border. It’s not sustainable in Texas or Arizona.
The Biden border crisis brings thousands of illegal migrants to the borders of Texas and Arizona again, after a brief lull in June when Title 42 ended. It’s being called a free-for-all and the Biden administration is cutting razor wire along the Rio Grande River bank to allow illegal migrants to pass through. The chaos began again this morning so Chicago and other sanctuary cities can expect more busses of illegals coming their way.
HAPPENING NOW: A large group of illegal immigrants are wading through the Rio Grande to get to Eagle Pass. pic.twitter.com/Fle6zf9qJ4
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 21, 2023
Eagle Pass, TX right now. Illegal crossings began before sunrise and haven’t stopped. pic.twitter.com/lvJShQTBis
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 21, 2023
The contract with GardaWorld was signed on September 12. Chicago left the option to use other contractors in the deal.
“The purpose of this Purchase Order is to allow the City to purchase from the State Contract temporary housing solutions and related services … to provide critical services to asylum seekers,” according to the contract, signed Sept. 12.
“The City reserves the right to utilize other contractors and/or City employees at any sites set up as temporary housing solutions pursuant to this Purchase Order.”
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), chair of the City Council’s Committee on Immigration and Refugee Rights, suggested the city use abandoned buildings and redesign them to house illegals. Then when the migrant crisis is over, the city still has its buildings. “If we build tent cities,” Vasquez asked, “what will we do with them?” I assume the tents would remain property of the contractor, though. They would break down the camps and take the tents with them at the end of the contract. It is not clear if the city is purchasing the tents or just the services of the company.
This is Biden’s America. Who knew when he said he wanted to transform America that it would include turning major cities into tent camps for illegal aliens? There is no America First for Joe Biden. He doesn’t care. The Biden border crisis is intentional. Cities and border states can just fend for themselves as they deal with the consequences. If you are looking for Joe, you can find him at his beach house. He certainly isn’t at the southern border seeing the chaos he has created.
