What started as a dispute over Chicago’s handling of the migrant crisis is escalating into a major rift in the Democratic party and accusations from Black voters that the party is leaving them behind. 

“Any Republican candidate in the city of Chicago, now is your time. Because we are done with the Democratic party,” one Black resident says in a video circulating on social media. “Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker and President Biden have shown us what they think about the Black community all over this country,” she says. 

Voters are gathering at Chicago, she says, to tell the Democratic leaders that “we don’t have to support the Democratic party, we don’t have to continue to support people who are not going to support us,” she says. 

She said that while she campaigned and contributed money towards Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, she now has “buyer’s remorse.”

The residents said a surprise was coming for Democrats ahead of the Democratic National Convention set to begin at Chicago in August 2024. 

“It’s going to be a great day in the city of Chicago when the Democratic Convention comes here and then they find out in March that a lot of Black voters took Republican ballots,” the woman says, adding that she was “calling foul” on the fact that Democrats “found money for the migrants” while Black communities lacked resources. 

Chicago, which is a sanctuary city, has been deeply entrenched in the migrant crisis as it grapples with at least 23,000 migrants that have arrived in the city since August 2022. As Texas’s governor promises to keep sending migrants north until “President Biden steps up and does his job,” calls have been growing at Chicago to change the city’s sanctuary status, as the Sun has reported. 

Residents have been protesting, showing up to City Council meetings, and filing lawsuits against the city’s plan to build a migrant tent camp in a neighborhood park, as residents said the city was using vital resources on new migrant arrivals instead of helping Chicago neighborhoods. 

The tent camp project was finally halted this week over environmental hazards. For weeks, the city had been charging ahead with plans to build a shelter for as many as 2,000 migrants despite serious concerns that soil at the site was contaminated. 

Residents have also expressed concern over the city spending millions of dollars to help migrants find temporary housing. The state is reportedly providing up to $9,000 in rental assistance to each migrant.

In another video posted on a TikTok account with more than 15,000 followers, “Moor Real News,” another Black resident says, “if you think you’re going to have a peaceful Democratic National Convention in the city of Chicago while our people are starving, stay tuned. Stay tuned!”

Democratic leaders have “given these people, these newcomers” who “have paid no taxes” and “can’t vote” priority over the voters, he says. 

“We don’t care if you’re Republican, Democrat, or whatever, as long as you’re about closing these borders, we can support you. And anybody who’s about open borders, we’re against you,” he says.