For the past year, Mayor Brandon Johnson has urged the City Council to side with him on at least four proposals that impact the city’s migrant population. The latest proposal to spend $70 million to address the migrant crisis was approved by the City Council 30 to 18.
The decision came months after the state of Illinois and Cook County pledged to allocate a joint $250 million for shelter and other services for migrants coming to Chicago and Illinois.
Seven Black aldermen helped the proposal pass after Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle reportedly worked behind the scenes to persuade some Black aldermen to vote in favor of spending $70 million on the city’s migrants.
It’s unclear how many Black aldermen Preckwinkle influenced before the vote, but a Crusader analysis of the past four heated migrant proposals since 2023 shows that five Black aldermen always voted in lockstep with Mayor Johnson. Without their support, Johnson’s $70 million funding proposal would have been defeated last Friday, April 19.
At City Hall, they have become Mayor Johnson’s fabulous five when it comes to migrant proposals. They are freshmen Aldermen Lamont Robinson (4th), Desmon Yancy (5th) and William Hall (6th), and veteran aldermen Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) and Jason Ervin (28th).
On four migrant proposals, the five aldermen have sided with Mayor Johnson, voting the same way he voted. In addition to Friday’s $70 million migrant funding proposal, Robinson, Yancy, Hall, Burnett and Ervin on December 14, 2023 voted “no” to another proposal.
The proposal was to have a referendum for voters to decide on Chicago’s sanctuary status as the city struggles to take care of over 39,000 migrants as a result of the Texas border crisis. That proposal failed 30 to 18.
A month earlier, the aldermen voted in favor of Mayor Johnson’s proposal to build a winterized tent in Morgan Park. That proposal passed 49 to 1.
On May 31, 2023, the same five aldermen voted to spend $51 million in aid that ran out in a month. That proposal passed 34 to 13.
The Crusader analysis also shows another group of Black aldermen voted or sided with Mayor Johnson in three of the four migrant proposals. Some of them are his allies, including Aldermen Pat Dowell (3rd) and Jeanette Taylor (20th). Both went against the mayor last Friday and voted “no” against the $70 million funding proposal. They sided with the mayor on the other migrant proposals.
Dowell famously endorsed Johnson over his predecessor Lori Lightfoot in the city’s 2023 election. Taylor also endorsed Johnson, but she was booed, labeled a traitor by some residents when she voted in favor of the $51 million funding proposal after she wept and said, “It ain’t our responsibility to take care of everyone else. I know in my heart what’s right … but when the hell are y’all going to help us?”
The other two aldermen who voted in favor of three of four proposals are Aldermen Michelle Harris (8th) and her protégé, Ronnie Mosley (21st). Both voted in favor of the $70 million funding. Harris voted against the $51 million funding proposal, the only time she sided against Mayor Johnson
Mosley’s only dissenting vote came when he voted in favor of the Chicago sanctuary city referendum. It came one month after he drew protests when he flopped and voted in favor of the winterized tent in his ward following changes the mayor made to the proposal. Sources told the Crusader Mosley only voted in favor of the referendum to appease voters in his ward who vowed not to re-elect him in 2027.
The Crusader analysis also identified four Black aldermen who voted against Mayor Johnson on three of the four proposals impacting migrants. They include Aldermen Greg Mitchell (7th), Anthony Beale (9th), David Moore (17th) and Derrick Curtis (18th).
Of the four, Moore and Beale have been the most outspoken critics on the migrant proposals.
In 2023, Moore encouraged other aldermen to vote “no” on the $51 million ordinance, saying the city should prioritize helping current residents.
“People keep saying there’s enough to go around. … So, if there’s enough to go around, then let’s pass an ordinance where we see the enough. We have to help the residents of this great city.”
After the City Council voted 31 to 18 to reject the sanctuary city referendum last December, Beale said Chicagoans deserve to voice their opinion about sanctuary city status.
“All this question is asking is to let the people have a say in what’s going on,” he said. “What are you scared of? The truth? Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are spending money frivolously in this body? Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are heading in the right direction?”
