Photo caption: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker during a news conference (GovPritzker / Facebook)
As the National Democratic Convention is set to take place in Chicago next August, there are questions surrounding how the city will handle the convention while also dealing with an influx of thousands of non-citizen arrivals.
Chicago will host the 2024 DNC at the United Center from Aug. 19 to 22. The convention will likely take place in the middle of a continued influx of migrants being transported to Chicago after crossing the southern U.S. border. About 15,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago over the past 13 months. Many have been left without adequate resources and the city is facing a lack of funding to properly care for the arrivals
On CBS’s Face The Nation Sunday, Pritzker was asked if he thinks the city will be able to handle the convention in the middle of a migrant influx.
“I am confident that we can handle it. But again, it will require help from the federal government, and someone needs to work in Texas with these border politicians to have them stop sending people only to blue cities and blue states,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker went on to urge the Biden administration to coordinate where the non-citizens are transported.
“The President of the United States and the White House have the ability to help disperse folks across the country. That will help a lot,” Pritzker said. “But we are managing in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois as best we can in the circumstances, but not if just those few politicians in Texas are taking responsibility for this.”
State Rep. Kevin Schmidt, R-Millstadt, told The Center Square that any issues that may come up around the DNC will be a direct result of Pritzker’s handling of the situation.
“The Democrats in Illinois have kind of made this problem on their own by making Illinois a sanctuary state,” Schmidt said. “You have got a lot of liberal elites that are in favor of certain ideologies and policies, but whenever it hits home, and they see it in person, it’s a little different world then. They don’t want that in their backyard. They want it in someone else’s, which is pretty typical for a liberal elitist.”
The convention will be the first in the Windy City since 1996 and will be hosted by the United Center on the city’s west side.
This article originally appeared on The Center Square.
