On the third day of their tour, a group of city officials is visiting Texas cities that have sent the greatest number of migrants to Chicago.
Why it’s important With thousands of new immigrants straining the city’s resources, the group is looking for answers as they warn that Chicago is running out of capacity.
What they’re saying: “We’re in distress,” Ald. William Hall (6th), a delegation member, tells Axios. “It’s like we’re being left on our own at the deep end of the pool with no life vests.”
Hall is calling on President Biden to free up federal funds for Chicago’s migrant crisis, similar to what’s provided to towns near the U.S.-Mexico border.
“El Paso [Texas] is able to involve so many different partners that help with operations and transportation for those who just crossed the border. Nonprofits like The Red Cross help take the stress off the local government here.”
By the numbers: As of Wednesday, there are 11,307 residents in Chicago shelters, while 3,739 are awaiting placement at police stations and both major airports.
What’s happening: Hall and a handful of city leaders spent the last two days meeting with government officials and service providers in El Paso. Thursday, they travel to San Antonio, followed by trips to McAllen and Brownsville.
After speaking to migrants, Hall says word is spreading that Chicago is overwhelmed.
“So when people are coming across the border lately, word is getting back that there might not be any room, that you might be sleeping on the floor and that it is getting cold.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Brandon Johnson — who had planned to join the trip delegation before changing plans this week — and his administration are trying to find locations for their “base camp” plan to get migrants out of police stations before winter hits.
A top aide said a vacant lot in Brighton Park is under consideration but declined to share other potential locations, the Sun-Times reports.
What we’re watching: For migrants who want to settle in Chicago, Hall wants to create a system in which nonprofits in the city and in Texas organize simple care packages that include winter coats and socks.
Groups in St. Louis are seeking a partnership with Chicago to send migrants there to help bolster the local workforce.
Over the past ten years, the average Illinoisan has increased in income and improved in education, according to a recent federal data analysis.
Why it matters: The results refute popular theories that the state is losing money, people, and intelligence as a result of outmigration.
Context: The report is based on 2010 to 2022 U.S. Census and IRS data analyzed by researchers at the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The big picture: Over that period, Illinois’ population has remained fairly stable while its tax base has grown.
The researchers write that, although “Illinois lost residents to net domestic migration from 2013 through 2022, these losses were almost entirely offset by the addition of migrants from abroad.”
Data suggest that people who moved out of Illinois were more likely to be younger, Black, and low income, and less likely to be Latino.
“Between 2010 and 2020, the number of [Illinois] taxpayers reporting over $500,000 in adjusted gross income increased by 80%,” the report says.
Those earning between $100,000 and $500,000 grew by 52%.
At the same time, Illinoisans claiming low-income tax benefits [EIC} decreased by 11%.
Meanwhile, many Illinois newbies arrived for college. Higher university enrollment was up 6 percentage points for adults who moved here from other states, compared with those who left the state.
Adult workers who arrived in Illinois “were more likely to have bachelor’s degrees or higher (64-70%) than adult workers who left Illinois (59%),” the report states.
Of note: The primary reason cited for leaving was job-related, including a new job or a transfer.
U.S. forces deployed around the Middle East are keeping an eye out for Iranian-backed militias that might create new fronts in the worst Israeli-Palestinian conflict in decades.
According to a U.S. Central Command official, “we are monitoring across the region for any indicators or warnings that these groups would consider adding to or entering this conflict in a way that escalates it.”
For this reason, the spokeswoman claimed, “we adjusted our posture.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an announcement on fresh military actions intended “to bolster regional deterrence efforts” on Sunday, one day after the unexpected land, air, and sea strike against Israel on Saturday that was spearheaded by the Palestinian Hamas movement. The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean as part of this, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) received increased supply of resources and equipment.
The spokesman for CENTCOM refused to discuss “specific force protection measures or future operations,” but they did state that “we remain concerned about Iranian supported militia groups and that we continue to take appropriate measures to ensure the security of U.S. military personnel.”
The United States has more than 30,000 troops in the Middle East as of January 2022, one year into President Joe Biden’s administration, with about 2,500 in Iraq and 900 in Syria. According to the most recent information from the Pentagon’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2024, which was presented in March, there were 3,400 personnel supporting operations in these two nations in fiscal year 2022 and 3,949 in fiscal year 2023, with a request to reduce that number to 3,558 in the next fiscal year.
Under Biden and his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, U.S. airstrikes on the locations of the organizations on multiple occasions resulted from the presence of Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria that periodically threatened American forces.
While no assaults have come close to matching the entire operation carried out by Hamas against Israel over the weekend, militias in Iraq and Syria thought to have ties to Iran have sometimes carried out their own complex assaults using rockets, drones, and small arms fire.
Several of these primarily Shiite Muslim militias, including Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Hezbollah al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, all of which are based in Iraq but are also known to be active in Syria, have expressed ardent support for Hamas and have even considered joining the conflict, possibly by launching attacks against U.S.
Since the aftermath of the American-led invasion of Iraq two decades ago, when competing Sunni and Shiite Muslim militias rallied against one another and American forces, Iraqi militias have a long history of attacking American troops. Iran increased its support of allied forces to fight the jihadis and support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against them and a variety of other mostly Sunni Muslim rebel organizations after the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS) formed from the chaos.
Hamas, a Palestinian movement, was first repelled by this action as a Sunni Muslim organization, but it has since strengthened connections with Iran and its supporters in order to oppose Israel.
The most recent surprise strike by Hamas has also received acclaim from Tehran, and the Iranian Mission said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic has given Palestinian forces the “skills” necessary to carry out such a catastrophic operation. Later that day, a Hamas spokesperson in Lebanon informed the media that the organization was actively coordinating with Iran and other “Axis of Resistance” troops “before, during, and after this battle,” although the Iranian Mission flatly denied that Iran had any involvement in it.
Iranian involvement in the Hamas attack was not clearly demonstrated, according to U.S. and Israeli authorities.
Although Iranian authorities have advocated for the removal of American soldiers from Iraq and Syria, the Iranian Mission has denied that it was sponsoring militia operations against American forces in both countries. The Syrian government, which is still firmly in Assad’s hands, has also frequently called on the United States to leave the region.
In a phone chat on Thursday, the Syrian president and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, reaffirmed their shared support for Palestinians who are currently the targets of Israel’s largest-ever bombing assault against the Gaza Strip. They also called for Arab and Muslim solidarity against Israel.
The CENTCOM official stated that the United States was employing a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen deterrence as the regional repercussions of the Hamas attack and Israel’s still-developing war against Gaza continue.
“What we’re doing across the U.S. government is, one, flooding the zone with high-level phone calls and engagement to make clear our desire to contain this conflict, support the defense of Israel,” the spokesperson said. “So, we are postured in monitoring, for any adversary, that would consider entering this conflict and escalating it.”
Managing editor of the Chicago Morning Star
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Americans may be miffed to learn that power prices increased in September as they begin to consider the costs of heating and lighting their homes during the season’s short and chilly days.
But the future may reassure them since, as the United States enters winter, power rates are predicted to fall.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday that the cost of electricity had jumped by more than 1 percent last month, compared to a rise of only 0.2 percent in August. But the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is forecasting that retail electricity prices will tick down in the coming months, on the back of a fall in natural gas prices.
Wholesale natural gas prices are expected to drop 14 percent compared to last year, which will bring down retail costs for households by a fifth across the board.
“Because natural gas is the most common fuel used to generate electricity in the United States, we expect that retail electricity prices will also be down slightly (2 percent) from last year, as the lower price that power plants pay for natural gas passes through to retail electricity rates,” the EIA said in a report released on Wednesday.
Analysts at the EIA predict a slight decline in residential electricity prices this winter, with U.S. prices averaging 15.2 cents per kilowatt.
There are regional variations in consumption and cost, however.
“For the upcoming winter, the largest driver of changes in electricity expenditures we forecast is the level of consumption. For the West, we forecast 10 percent less residential consumption this winter than last because of milder expected temperatures. In contrast, our forecast of winter consumption rises by 5 percent in the South,” the EIA said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ figures showed that energy rose by 1.5 percent in September, compared to 5.6 percent in August, while the cost of natural gas fell for the month and for the year—bolstering the forecast of a decline in electricity prices.
Natural gas prices fell 1.9 percent over the month. Over the year to September, it dropped by nearly 20 percent.
The EIA added: “U.S. households that heat primarily with electricity will spend an average of about $1,060 this winter on their electricity bills, which is about the same as last winter.
“A slight increase in forecast average U.S. electricity consumption is offset by an expected 2 percent decline in U.S. residential electricity prices.”
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, housing and gas are becoming more expensive.
The BLS reported on Thursday that consumer prices increased slightly overall in September, driven by an increase in housing expenses and gas prices for the month, but that they were steady for the year. This is important because the Federal Reserve will decide whether to raise interest rates at its crucial meeting in November.
For September, consumer prices increased by 0.4 percent, an uptick from the 0.3 percent analysts expected. For the year to September, prices jumped 3.7 percent, the same as in August.
“The index for shelter was the largest contributor to the monthly all items increase, accounting for over half of the increase. An increase in the gasoline index was also a major contributor to the all items monthly rise,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
The U.S. central bank has hiked rates beginning in March 2022 to its current two-decade high of 5.25 to 5.5 percent, pushing up the cost of borrowing for consumers and businesses for homes, auto loans and investment. The moves have helped to bring down price rises to under 4 percent but still above the Fed’s target of 2 percent.
Analysts had expected inflation to go up 0.3 percent from the previous month for an annual rate of 3.6 percent. On the core level, a measure that removes volatile energy and food prices, inflation was expected to be at 4.1 percent, in what would have been its lowest level in two years.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics pointed out that “the all items less food and energy index rose 4.1 percent over the last 12 months,” which was at expectations.
The September inflation numbers suggests prices may be cooling despite what could be a temporary spike in gas and housing costs, some economists say.
“The underlying trend in inflation is still down,” Michael Pearce, a lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, said in a note shared with Newsweek. “This report will not change the message from Fed officials over recent days that they can afford to be patient,” on rate hikes.
Mahir Rasheed, a senior economist at insurance firm Swiss Re, also expected the Fed to hold on into next year.
“However, there is upside risk that if we continue to see strong inflation prints in October, the Fed may consider December a live meeting with a small chance of further tightening,” he told Newsweek.
The effects of higher rates are feeding into the economy, which may mean that to slow inflation, the central bank could choose to retain elevated borrowing costs for longer rather than introduce new hikes.
“Higher inflation and stronger growth in the near-term raises the odds that the Fed will delay easing policy until later into 2024 instead of triggering higher terminal rates,” Rasheed said.
For Americans, a higher-for-longer interest rates environment means the cost of loans could remain higher, impacting the housing market and a potential pull-back on business investment with implications for hiring.
The cost of gas was elevated in September on the back of a jump in global oil prices ending the month at a national average of $3.83 per gallon, two cents more than the previous month and seven cents more than a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association. Over the last week, there are signs that prices may be falling.
On Wednesday, the producer price index (PPI), which measures wholesale prices, jumped higher than anticipated Wednesday on the back of high energy prices in September.
On Thursday, energy prices increased 1.5 percent for the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said, compared to a jump of 5.6 in August. Gas prices increased 2.1 percent in September, though they jumped less than the 10.6 percent increase witnessed a month ago.
Housing costs jumped 0.6 percent compared to August’s increase of 0.3 percent. The government’s measure of rent costs, which rose 7.4 percent for the year, was showing it costlier than some private sector data, said Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at The National Association of Realtors.
“This is the main reason why consumer prices are not fully under control and why the Fed refuses to consider cutting interest rates,” he said in a statement shared with Newsweek. It is nonetheless inevitable for rent growth to slow because of the construction of multiple new apartments. Inflation and interest rates will be lower next year.”
After being suspended for more than three years due to the coronavirus pandemic’s economic impact, student loan payments were finally resumed on Sunday.
The Biden administration is reactivating all student loan accounts, and more than 28 million borrowers now have to cope with repayments despite ongoing opposition by advocates and worries of a government shutdown.
It’s a sad day for people who have student loans and for the country as a whole because payments must resume, especially in light of the impending possibility of a government shutdown on the same day. The Student Debt Crisis Center’s president and founder, Natalia Abrams, said earlier this week that it was “just wild.”
In a poll conducted by Life and My Finances in July, it was discovered that only 22% of borrowers at the time had a strategy in place for paying off their student loans, and 50% of borrowers said they don’t earn enough to do so.
Some debtors are refusing to make payments as part of a “student debt strike” to voice their displeasure with the system.
In the meanwhile, President Biden, who had made relief a core campaign promise for 2020, has unveiled a “on-ramp” repayment scheme that enables debtors to skip payments for the next year with less repercussion than before. If borrowers skip payments, have their wages garnished, or are turned over to debt collectors, the Department of Education won’t consider them to be in default.
Despite the department’s assurances that they won’t notify credit card providers of the missed payments, borrowers will still be subject to interest charges on their loans and risk having their credit scores damaged.
There may be instances when, because you’re not making your payments, the loan’s value is rising due to interest accrual, increasing the amount you owe. According to Jacob Channel, senior economist and student loan repayment specialist at Lending Tree, the credit bureau takes it into consideration, and it’s possible that your credit score suffers slightly.
Student loan debt was already recognized to be negatively affecting millions of Americans’ finances and influencing important life decisions before the pandemic hiatus started.
Almost half of student loan borrowers in 2019 delayed investing in a home because of school debt, according to the real estate site Clever.
“In typical pre-COVID times, when people are paying their student loans, they’re not buying their children’s medication, they’re not able to save for a house or retirement. We know from polling borrowers for so many years that they were using their COVID pandemic money to pay for basic needs, and so the worry is that now they won’t be able to,” Abrams said.
The Biden administration has taken some steps to ease the burden of borrowers ahead of the repayment restart, including forgiving $117 billion in student loans for more than 3.4 million borrowers, mostly stemming from the borrower defense program, a program used to forgive the debt of those defrauded by their schools.
Prior to the repayment restart, the Biden administration has taken some measures to lessen the burden on borrowers, including forgiving $117 billion in student loan debt for more than 3.4 million borrowers. This debt was primarily derived from the Borrower Defense Program, which was established to forgive the debt of students who had been defrauded by their institutions.
The Supreme Court invalidated Biden’s plan to cancel at least $10,000 in student debt for each of the 45 million borrowers in June.
The Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, an income-driven repayment (IDR) scheme, was nonetheless developed by the administration and is currently being implemented in two stages.
The income exemption is increased from 150 percent to 225 percent over the federal poverty level in the first phase, which will start this year. Accordingly, a borrower making up to $32,800 per year would have monthly student loan payments of $0. The monthly payments for a family of four income less than $67,500 would similarly be $0.
The cessation of increase on unpaid interest for debtors is another significant change this year.
Changes will take effect the next year, including a reduction in monthly payments from 10% of discretionary income to 5%.
According to Abrams, “The SAVE plan is a lifeline if you can get on a $0 payment,” and we have helped several borrowers, particularly elderly borrowers receiving Social Security, to get on that plan.
But our people, who may have had a boost in their income during the epidemic, are the ones we are seeing it affect or not be good for. People who were on a previous IDR plan then discover they must make a significantly greater premium when they seek to apply, said Abrams.
Only 28 million of the 45 million people who hold student loans will have to begin making payments in October. The accounts of the others are still halted for various reasons, including the fact that they are still enrolled in school, are in default, or are awaiting debt forgiveness.
Republicans applaud the return of payments because they believe the Biden administration’s delays and promises only made the situation for borrowers worse.
Adam Kissel, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, said, “This conversation diverts us from the core problem, which is making student loan money too easy, which drives up tuition and does not address what’s needed, which is that colleges need tough love to end their addiction to tuition.”
Republicans have long claimed that government student debt relief is unjust to people who never attended school or paid off their student loans on their own, and they have presented their own ideas for increasing the transparency of education costs.
“Republicans have proposed a plan that holds universities accountable for increasing expenses and gives families and students the choice to decide what is best for their futures both in and out of college. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the committee’s leading Republican, warned that if Congress does nothing, students would continue to sink in debt without any hope of success.
Additionally, the resumption of payments comes while Congress is now fighting to keep the government running. Even before the battle over the government shutdown, it was known that student loan servicers were having trouble providing customer service owing to a lack of funds, which may effect the wait times for customers who needed help.
However, the White House claims that a shutdown, particularly one that lasts a long time, would make the issue worse.
The Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated, “So, you know, if this happens, if Republicans in Congress, you know, go down this road of shutting down the government, you know, we anticipate that key activities at Federal Student Aid will continue for a couple of weeks.” The return to repayment effort and long-term servicing support for debtors “could be substantially disrupted” if the closure is extended and lasts for more than a few weeks.
So, as we have been saying over the past several months, the Department of Education will try its utmost to help debtors when they resume payments. But if this happens, a radical Republican shutdown may be disruptive,” she continued.
Additionally, payments are due a year before the 2024 presidential election, which is a risky moment to upset student loan proponents.
Progressive Democrats who have been demanding far more student debt relief than he has thus far been ready to provide are also likely to speak out more to Biden.
Several prominent Democrats, like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, called for $50,000 in student debt relief for all borrowers even before the Supreme Court decision.
According to Warren, “it’s the right number, it’s where a lot of people intersect that we could transform an entire generation.”
The Higher Education Act’s negotiated rulemaking procedure is being used by the Department of Education to attempt to find a new path to some relief.
The agency made its early policy recommendations for the new plan public on Friday, and they seem to be far more customized than the previously promised general relief. The government aims to provide targeted relief for specific borrower categories, according to the policy considerations, but nothing is final, and the first meeting to discuss the potential plan isn’t scheduled until October 10 and 11.
Any plan’s completion might not happen until far after 2024, and any relief would take much longer since whatever course the government chooses to follow would probably be contested in court once more.
Five more people are still in the hospital. When the semi-truck started spilling the potentially deadly chemical, a one-mile radius evacuation was mandated.
A father and his two young children were among five fatalities in a multi-vehicle crash involving a semi-truck carrying potentially toxic anhydrous ammonia in central Illinois, authorities said.
Late Saturday the Effingham County coroner’s office confirmed the five fatalities plus another five airlifted to other hospitals. Their conditions had not been made public, and the office said earlier it was checking for updates from medical personnel.
The children were under age 12, said Kim Rhodes, the coroner of Effingham County. Identities for those victims as well as two others were unavailable, but her office said earlier three of the deceased were local and two were from out of state.
There was no indication anhydrous ammonia, which transforms from liquid to gas when exposed to air, was directly involved in the fatalities, but a leak of the chemical compound following the overnight crash prompted evacuations in south-central Illinois, authorities said.
crime were notified of a crash on U.S. Highway 40 about half a mile east of Teutopolis in Effingham County, roughly 210 miles south of Chicago, around 9:25 p.m. Friday. The semi-truck carrying anhydrous ammonia began leaking after rolling over in a ditch, officials said.
Anhydrous ammonia is a colorless liquid and gas with a pungent odor and the ability to burn skin, irritate eyes, and attack airways, according to North Dakota State University Department of Agriculture.
Breathed in sufficient concentrations, it can burn and paralyze the respiratory system and lead to death, the institution states.
It is a base for nitrogen fertilizer, a staple of contemporary farming that is common in farm country.
The truck was carrying around 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia at the time of the accident and, according to preliminary estimates, approximately 4,000 gallons were released, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a statement. The leak has been partially patched.
“Due to the plume from the ammonia leak, people within an approximate one mile radius of the crash on U.S. Highway 40, including northeastern parts of Teutopolis, have been evacuated,” Illinois State Police said in a statement.
Around 500 people have been evacuated from the area, officials said. The evacuation order will be in place at least through Sunday morning, according to the Illinois EPA.
A 15-person team including motor carrier, hazmat, and survival-factor investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board was expected to arrive at the crash site Saturday night, NTSB spokesperson Jennifer Gabris said.
The U.S. Highway 40 between Teutopolis and Montrose is closed. Illinois State Police are asking the public to avoid the area of the leak.
“Crews are working to contain the leak while first responders and emergency workers continue to respond to the incident,” state police said.
According to UAW President Shawn Fain on Friday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union will extend its strike against three major automakers to a Ford facility in Chicago and a GM plant in Lansing, Michigan.
The picket lines would be joined at noon by an additional 7,000 union members from the two facilities, bringing the total number of autoworkers on strike to 25,000.
“Despite our willingness to bargain, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress at the table,” Fain said in livestreamed remarks. “That’s why at noon Eastern time today, we will expand our strike to these two companies.”
“Our courageous members at these two plants are the next wave of reinforcements in our fight for record contracts,” he later added.
Fain did not call on any additional UAW members to strike against Stellantis, noting that the company made “significant progress” in its negotiations with the union shortly before he was set to make his remarks.
“We are excited about this momentum at Stellantis and hope it continues,” he said.
However, Fain emphasized that negotiations have not broken down with Ford and General Motors and that talks continue with all three companies.
The UAW launched its strike earlier this month, after failing to reach a deal with the three automakers before their previous contract expired.
Autoworkers at a small number of facilities initially walked out, before the union expanded the strike last Friday to include Stellantis and GM facilities at 38 locations across 28 states.
The union earned a boost earlier this week when President Biden made an unprecedented stop at a General Motors facility in Belleville, Mich., to join striking UAW members on the picket lines. He is the first sitting president to do so.
“Let’s keep going; you deserve what you’ve earned, and you deserve a hell of a lot more than what you’re getting paid now,” Biden said Tuesday.
Fain touted the president’s “historic” visit to the picket lines during Friday’s remarks but emphasized that any progress on contract negotiations would come from striking workers.
“When we win this fight, when we right the wrongs of the past 15 years and longer and when we set a new course for future generations, it won’t be because of any president — not the UAW president, not the president of the United States,” he said. “It will be because ordinary people did extraordinary things.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson has had to deal with two housing issues simultaneously during his first months in office: the city’s expanding unhoused population and thousands of recently arrived refugees.
Why it’s important Hundreds of millions of dollars will be needed to address the problem in a year when the city is dealing with a widening budget shortfall and escalating tensions between the Black and Latino populations.
The broad picture: Finding cheap housing for both current inhabitants and newcomers is a challenge even in places with less severe budget issues, raising concerns about priorities. Together with Caitlin Owens, Stef Kight, and Alayna Alvarez from Axios, Monica reports.
What they’re saying: Chicago citizens have questioned why, in their opinion, comparable efforts have not been made to assist the city’s homeless at recent City Council and neighborhood meetings on allocating cash to establish new migrant shelters.
At a meeting last summer, the city’s head of homelessness prevention gave people the reassurance that “no resources are taken from our shelter system and the housing within our shelter system” to lodge migrants. Between the lines: Homeless advocates in the area caution against presenting the crisis as an issue of us against them.
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless sent a statement to Axios saying, “Chicago’s severely underfunded homelessness system has led to fighting for scarce resources.” “We shouldn’t be dividing up the Black and Brown communities. We must and are able to improve. While collaborating with areas that have been under-resourced for years, we must develop solutions that boost and utilize resources to create housing for everyone. Driving the news: The mayor unveiled two divisive solutions this month to address each housing crisis.
High-end real estate transactions would be subject to much higher taxes under Bring Chicago Home, which would generate an estimated $100 million or more annually for homeless programs. And last week, Crain’s reported that the city had signed a $30 million deal with GardaWorld to construct temporary “base camps” for migrants. GardaWorld has assisted in transporting migrants by bus to Chicago, but has also come under fire for alleged mistreatment and substandard living conditions at its facilities. Situation: According to the city’s homeless snapshot, there are 6,139 homeless persons in the city on any given night, but activists estimate that figure to be closer to 68,000 when you take into account those who are temporarily sleeping with others.
According to the most recent estimate from the city, there are close to 9,500 migrants living there temporarily. The most recent: Late last week, the White House approved Temporary Protected Status and work permits for all Venezuelans who entered the US by July 31, 2023, allowing thousands of migrants in Chicago to find employment and maybe alleviating some strain on the supply of temporary housing.
What we’re watching: Johnson’s response to inquiries concerning the city’s selection of GardaWorld as the provider of local base camps and opposition to the Bring Chicago Home idea from the local real estate sector.
The government is once again offering four free COVID-19 exams to citizens as part of the Biden administration’s reinstatement of the at-home testing program.
Why it’s important: Relaunching the program coincides with a slow but steady increase in COVID hospitalizations, which last month passed 20,000 for the first time since March, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC’s COVID data tracker, 2.7% of all fatalities in the U.S. for the week of September 10–16 were connected to COVID-19, a 12.5% rise from the week prior.
The broad strokes: Numerous insurance companies have ceased paying for COVID testing after the public health emergency’s expiry in May. Since June 1, the government’s program has not been accessible.
According to the Biden administration, its collaboration with USPS had already offered more than 755 million at-home exams.
USPS COVID test kits: What to order
What’s going on: The COVID test program has been restarted, and the Biden administration has invested $600 million in 12 domestic COVID-19 test manufacturers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Households may order four free tests starting on Monday, September 25, at COVIDTests.gov, which links users to a U.S. Postal Service website. The tests are free to use and delivery without charge. According to USPS, shipping will start the week of October 2. There is also a government helpline, 1-800-232-0233 or TTY 1-888-720-7489, for people who are unable to buy through the internet.
The at-home COVID test program was originally introduced in January 2022, and it initially permitted four free tests per residential location, regardless of the number of people residing there.
Prior to being halted in September of last year, it was enlarged in March and May. After being relaunched in December, it closed on May 31.
Noteworthy: According to HHS, the tests that will be handed out will be able to identify the COVID-19 variations that are currently in circulation and are “intended for use through the end of 2023.”
Instructions on how to confirm extended test expiration dates will be sent with them. The “use by” dates for some over-the-counter COVID tests have been extended by the Food & Drug Administration by several months.
The FDA website has a complete list of authorized COVID-19 tests along with their updated expiration dates.
Staff writer for the Chicago Morning Star
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A new study predicts that 6,160 new apartment units will be constructed in Chicago this year, down from 8,970 in 2020.
Why it matters: A housing shortage in the U.S. has contributed to the rising cost of both renting and buying.
What’s happening: Chicago is among the 20 metro areas where the bulk of new pandemic-era apartments are located, per the report by RentCafe, which analyzed data from real estate intelligence service Yardi Matrix.
Zoom out: A historic surge in new apartment supply — 1.2 million units were completed during the pandemic — helped curb rent growth nationwide, but some parts of the country saw more housing being built than others. The big picture: Nearly three-fourths of renters say they’re renting in an area where they couldn’t afford to buy, according to a new survey from RealPage, a real estate analytics and software company.
Reality check: Around 89% of the U.S. units completed from 2020 through 2022 are high-end, per the report, and not the type of affordable apartments many renters want.
Flashback: Amenity-packed luxury apartment buildings are popping up across Chicago. Asking rents for new leases in the Chicago metro area are up roughly 3% from a year ago, according to August data from RealPage. What they’re saying: Steep rents and choosy landlords pushed Kirsten Onsgard, a 30-year-old graduate student, to purchase a one-bedroom condo in Rogers Park.
Onsgard tells Axios they have “10 years of good rental history and plenty of savings — I just don’t have the monthly income right now” to meet some landlords’ requirements such as “4x rent in income.”
Data: RentCafe; Note: Includes buildings with 50 or more units; Chart: Axios Visuals Zoom in: Outside the city, far west suburb Warrenville, near Naperville, led Chicagoland in new apartments built during the last three years, per the RentCafe report.
What’s next: Across the U.S., 1 million rental units are slated for completion through 2025, but higher costs and other headwinds could hinder developers’ pace in future years.
“Tightening of bank lending standards — combined with rising costs of construction materials, labor and land — has made new projects harder to pencil,” senior analyst Doug Ressler at Yardi Matrix says in the report.
In Chicago, servers who depend mostly on gratuities may disappear by the end of the decade.
Why it matters: Tipped work (some lucrative, lots not) has been a part of our economy for more than 150 years, and ending it could massively shift how Chicagoans pay for services, run businesses and earn a living.
Plus, businesses — like restaurants, bars and salons — will probably have to raise prices to meet the new wage demands.
Driving the news: On Wednesday, the City Council Committee on Workforce Development is expected to introduce and advance a proposal to phase out the minimum wage for tipped workers (currently $9.48 an hour) over five years.
Under the plan, businesses would be required to increase tipped workers’ wages by 8% annually until they’re paid the same minimum wage as other employees in the city ($15.80).
Of note: Workers could still accept additional tips.
Catch up fast: The proposed ordinance was recently revised in a deal hammered out between Mayor Brandon Johnson, alders and the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA).
It’s part of a nationwide One Fair Wage campaign to end a two-tiered system in which some workers are paid at least minimum wage while others are paid a subminimum wage and expected to make most of their income in tips.
The IRA, which had long resisted OFW, agreed to back the proposal Monday night after negotiating a longer phase-in period.
What they’re saying: “I can count votes, and I saw the writing on the wall,” IRA president Sam Toia tells Axios. “I think they probably could have pushed this through with a two-year phase-in. The five-year phase-in is much easier to bake into [a restaurant’s] numbers.”
Toia expects restaurants will raise menu prices to accommodate the wage changes.
He worries that if OFW passes, some big restaurant groups might be discouraged from launching new locations in Chicago and opt for places like Texas, where the minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13.
The other side: Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, in a statement called the effort a “breakthrough,” saying it serves as “an example of what is possible when workers, advocates and elected leaders with the political courage stand together.”
The big picture: If the measure passes, Chicago would follow in the footsteps of California and D.C. The latter is phasing out its tipped minimum wage from $5.35 in May to at least $17 by 2027.
Some D.C. restaurants have started adding fees to diners’ bills to help cover costs, Axios’ Anna Spiegel tells us, which is creating tension over confusing service charges and higher prices. The D.C. attorney general started cracking down on “murky service fees” and recently set strict guidelines for businesses.
Toia believes diners will continue to tip but expects tips will fall, as they have at some spots in California and D.C.
What we’re watching: If Johnson can pass OFW and Bring Chicago Home — his real estate transfer tax proposal to raise money for homeless services — during his first year in office, it will mark a swift shift to the left for city code and a delivery of key campaign promises.
What’s next: If the compromise ordinance is approved in Wednesday’s meeting, it will advance to a full council vote on Oct. 4. If it passes, incremental raises could start in July 2024.
Residents and drivers in the downtown area are dissatisfied with the city’s handling of the Mexican Independence Day festivities for the second year in a row.
Why it matters: The city’s decision to block access to the Loop over the weekend created chaos on expressways, off-ramps and streets — raising questions about whether officials gave enough notice of the closings and concerns that the gridlock could happen again.
What they’re saying: Dozens on social media questioned the move, calling it unsafe and last-minute; others said the access points were unreachable.
The other side: When asked at Monday’s press conference about the response, Mayor Brandon Johnson called it his “ultimate responsibility … to make sure that we are creating safe spaces for the people of Chicago.”
“Now, as far as how we can make it better, there are some ideas that are already rushing in,” he said, but the mayor’s press office declined to provide details to Axios.
“We got more things right than we got wrong, but obviously we need more improvement in tactical planning,” Alderman Brian Hopkins tells Axios.
Hopkins — who represents the 2nd Ward, which includes parts of downtown — says constituents called and emailed his office all weekend, including medical staff. “We had doctors and nurses who were denied access at the checkpoints, even though the instructions were explicit.”
Context: Last Wednesday, city officials said they weren’t planning to close any streets for the festivities over the weekend, but they noted that “traffic may be diverted to control traffic flow if needed.”
Around 8pm Friday, city officials announced they were sealing off the downtown area due to large caravans and celebrating revelers. They blocked off expressway ramps throughout the Loop, stranding residents, workers and tourists.
On Saturday morning, the Office of Emergency Management (OEMC) announced it wasn’t planning on any more street closings but that it reserved the right to redirect traffic. At 6pm, OEMC announced it was again closing access to downtown.
Details: The Central Business District was closed from Division to 18th Street and from DuSable Lake Shore Drive to Halsted. The street closings ended around 3am Sunday, OEMC said.
On both nights, the city directed downtown residents and employees to use certain “access points” to gain entrance to the affected area.
Cars are rerouted along Halsted Street in Greektown on Saturday night. Photo: Justin Kaufmann/Axios
Zoom in: “All closures were put into effect only when it was deemed necessary due to large car caravans creating gridlocked traffic in the Central Business District,” the city said in a statement.
“As these road closures were put into place, residents were notified through social media, Notify Chicago and CHIBIZ alerts to provide information as it became available, and the media was immediately alerted as well.”
“All communication provided access points to ensure those working and residing in the area were able to enter the area safely.”
Reality check: Many residents and workers were already stuck in traffic when the closings were announced.
But after downtown was blocked off, the gridlock expanded well beyond the Central Business District, and some drivers saw their Friday and Saturday night commutes double.
Of note: Illinois State Police say a trooper was struck Friday night on the I-90 southbound ramp to Washington Street by a driver who was attempting to pass during parade closings. State police say neither the officer nor the driver was injured.
There was a shooting early Saturday morning on the Eisenhower, but ISP tells Axios they do not have information that indicates the expressway shooting was related to the festivities.
Flashback: This isn’t the first time caravans have come downtown. Last year, police blocked streets and blocked the Central Business District, causing residents to complain. Downtown was blocked off in 2020, too.
The downtown caravans have become a tradition on Mexican Independence Day.
As Congress confronts its first test over America’s engagement in the battle against Russia, doubt is building among House Republicans regarding the acceptance of more funds for Ukraine.
As the Senate works to include a Ukraine assistance package into a continuing resolution that would postpone the deadline for a potential government shutdown, the House may be put to a vote as early as this month.
More financing for Ukraine has long been opposed by a small group of far-right politicians, but this week, multiple GOP lawmakers told The Hill that mainstream House Republicans are also voicing their worries.
“It’s not just the Freedom Caucus; I think there’s a lot of people that are concerned with funding,” said Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “I think it all depends on what’s in the bill.”
McClain demanded that Congress direct its attention in the budget legislation toward maintaining the federal government’s operations as well as domestic emergencies like the recent wildfires in Hawaii.
“We have the appropriations bills right that we need to get out,” she said. “That is super critical. But also what I’m more concerned about is disaster relief for the United States. That’s what our focus is on right now.”
Former House Freedom Caucus head Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) declared he would not support a new Ukraine package and had doubts that any Ukraine money will be brought up for vote anytime soon.
He was cautious, though, to predict that the opposition will eventually have enough support to block the approval of funding for Ukraine.
We have a lot of war hawks in Congress, so I’m not sure, he remarked.
Despite the fact that Republican opposition to American military aid to Ukraine has gradually increased over the course of the conflict’s first 18 months, both in Congress and among voters, the GOP caucus as a whole and almost all Democrats have overwhelmingly approved prior funding bills for Kiev.
Although Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) seized the gavel with the pledge that there would be no more “blank checks” to Ukraine, the next vote on aid will be the first on a significant package.
The Senate is preparing to include funds for Ukraine in a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government financed while yearly appropriations bills are being drafted, which has caused concern in the House.
If the House rejects a continuing resolution (CR) with the Ukraine funds attached, it may be postponed until later this year and added to other budget legislation or taken up separately.
Punchbowl News reported last month that McCarthy will attempt to approve the Ukraine funds as a separate supplemental bill instead of including it in a continuing resolution, but only if he also secures more funding for the border.
In response to President Biden’s August request for $24 billion in assistance for Ukraine, including $13 billion in security assistance, Congress took action. As part of a $40 billion package that also includes funding for disaster assistance, Biden added the request.
The impeachment investigation involving Biden is also enmeshed in the House, which may have an effect on the budget negotiations.
A member of the Armed Services Committee, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), stated that the House had “a lot of other issues ahead” of money for Ukraine.
“Additional funding for Ukraine is going to be difficult to sell to the American people because every day that we go on fewer Americans support the war in Ukraine,” she said.
According to a CNN survey conducted in August, the majority of Americans—55 percent to 45 percent—against further aid to Ukraine are divided along partisan lines. The survey found that 71 percent of Republican respondents said that the United States should not contribute further assistance, compared to 62 percent of Democrats.
Stronger support has been seen in other surveys, such as one conducted by the Reagan Institute during the summer. According to a Fox News poll conducted in August, more Americans are becoming hesitant to help Ukraine, although the majority, or 40%, believe that support should remain constant.
Last year, Congress allocated $113 billion in funding for Ukraine, of which around $47 billion went directly toward addressing the country’s military requirements.
However, the money supply is quickly running out. Due to the Pentagon’s significant accounting mistakes, it is unknown how much money is still available; nonetheless, data that is readily available indicates that just a small amount of money remains after spending around $44 billion thus far.
Not just Democrats are putting pressure on the House GOP to support additional cash.
This month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared on the floor that opponents of aid to Ukraine were presenting “faulty arguments” by saying that subsidizing the conflict was worthwhile.
“Standing with our allies against [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is directly and measurably strengthening the U.S. military,” he said. “Our support to Ukraine is grinding down one of America’s biggest strategic adversaries.”
The concern that Republicans may thwart more help has persisted among Ukraine’s supporters even since they took control of the House in January.
This came to light in July when an unsuccessful attempt to include an amendment that would have stopped all U.S. military aid to Ukraine in a draft version of the yearly defense bill garnered support from 70 Republican members.
Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump, two businessmen running for president, are adding their voices to the rising mistrust shown in surveys.
It’s also feared that McCarthy’s tense relationship with the Freedom Caucus, which issued a list of demands in August to get members to support the funding measures, might have a negative impact on Ukraine. One of them was a categorical rejection of “any blank check for Ukraine in any supplemental appropriations bill.”
A member of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), expressed optimism that McCarthy would completely stop financing for Ukraine from being discussed.
We need to address other issues, he continued. The House must continue to prioritize funding for the government.
Davidson stated that he will reject any more aid to Ukraine “until the Biden administration provides Congress with a clear mission” in a post on X, the website that replaced Twitter, on Thursday.
According to the Biden administration, its objectives in Ukraine have always been clear.
Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor for the White House, said to reporters on Wednesday that he is not of how frequently he has responded to this query over the last 15 months.
“We want Ukraine to be successful in combat. We want them to reclaim all of their land. Their sovereignty should be honored, added Sullivan. “We oppose the presence of Russian forces in Ukraine. We want the war to come to a conclusion.
“And it could end today, obviously, if Mr. Putin would do the right thing and just get the hell out,” he said. That’s obviously not going to happen at this time.
In the midst of an internal party conflict that has heightened tensions between members and the Biden administration, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is scheduled to meet once again to review the status of the 2024 New Hampshire primary.
The Rules and Bylaws Committee, a regulatory body with power over the early state process, could consider long-awaited proposed changes to the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation designation Thursday.
The meeting is mired in unknowns. Could there be a concerted push for another extension or a write-in effort? Will officials make a play for a party-run primary? Uncertain what to expect, Democrats are bracing for a variety of possibilities.
“It’s so, so shortsighted,” Cullen Tiernan, a labor advocate based in Concord, said about the DNC’s proposed reshuffle, airing frustration that many activists have shared leading up to Election Day.
The process has been complex and drawn out, becoming an increasing point of contention between President Biden’s allies, local leaders and even the president’s Democratic rivals who want to protect the 1920s voting tradition.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Biden’s direct Democratic opponent and one of the leading voices raising concerns over the New Hampshire primary, sees the process as unfairly skewed towards getting the incumbent president nominated.
In an interview with The Hill, Dennis Kucinich, a former longtime Ohio congressman and presidential contender now serving as Kennedy’s campaign manager, outlined what he believes is most problematic for New Hampshire playing out in a chaotic fashion.
“The DNC itself is affiliated with tunnel vision,” Kucinich said. “They’re thinking only of the primary and trying to lock in President Biden’s constantly eroding position. And as a result, they’ve overlooked what ought to be the first and foremost concern, and that is New Hampshire’s four electoral votes.”
New Hampshire has only a handful of electoral votes to help round out a candidate’s pathway towards victory. But in a close contest, some Democrats believe that the likely early primary demotion could have an unintended consequence for their side in November.
“This is literally playing with fire,” Kucinich added. “It reveals an alarming shortsightedness and almost a craven indifference.”
The DNC has stipulated that all states need to formally apply for their status this cycle, even those that have historically competed early. While Democrats elsewhere in places like Iowa and Nevada have made their displeasure known, New Hampshire Democrats have been the most vocal against the national party’s new posture.
Over months of meetings and public discord, New Hampshire leaders have consistently noted that their early voting privilege is written into state law and should be exempt from the DNC’s proposed changes. The disagreement has been unsettling for Democrats who otherwise support Biden and want to see him secure the White House for a second time.
The Rules Committee noted that it intends to “continue its review of state 2024 National Convention Delegate Selection plans, including plans deferred at the last meeting” in a release, but multiple Democratic sources said they were unaware of more specific details.
While New Hampshire Democrats don’t know exactly what to expect from the meeting, they do believe that their primary will go on as planned, even if the lead-up is murky.
We “fully intend to have the primary, of course,” said Colin Booth, communications director of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. “It’s a state-run primary. It’s something that the secretary of state sets.”
“We plan to be in full compliance with state law,” he said.
While the concerns have gotten some airtime and annoyed Biden and his allies, top party officials stress they are confident that their push won’t ruin things for the president’s reelection effort. They view their lobbying to be separate from Biden’s campaign and have overwhelmingly backed him, maintaining the motivation to keep former President Trump away is paramount.
“Without a doubt President Biden will be renominated in Chicago by acclamation,” Ray Buckley, New Hampshire’s veteran Democratic Party chairman who has been supportive of Biden, told The Hill.
“His presidency has accomplished such historic success across the board that he will be greeted with a hero’s welcome,” he said.
Buckley has seen scores of Democrats come and go as voters have flexed their vetting power year after year. Although Biden came behind neighboring state Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and other candidates during the last primary election, Democrats didn’t need any convincing that he was the right candidate in the general election.
That loyalty has endured during his first term, even as he struggles to break out of his roughly 40 percent approval ratings at the national level.
“Joe Biden will win the primary whether his name is on the ballot or not,” Buckley said, alluding to the idea that he may not actually appear as a candidate and could be considered a write-in.
Like many swing state Democrats, Buckley emphasized that New Hampshire Democrats are more concerned with things like women’s rights — which they say have come under attack under GOP Gov. Chris Sununu — public education and protecting norms around democracy after Jan. 6, 2021. Buckley added that he’s much less focused on “what a group of D.C. insiders are doing” in regard to the rules gathering in Washington.
The kerfuffle around the DNC’s rules debate has nonetheless been noticed beyond the Beltway for months. The grumbling started in earnest when national officials embraced Biden’s push for South Carolina to replace Iowa and New Hampshire last December, prompting an outcry from others who vowed to press on for their traditional slots.
Biden allies and others saw it as one step towards adding more diversity to the primary, and while many New Hampshire Democrats see that side, they are also upset with what they perceive as a disregard of their history. Their persistence has meant bumping heads with the White House in the process.
“The mere pretense of it is astonishing,” said Kucinich. “It could cost the Democrats the presidency. There’s four electoral votes, and in a close election, New Hampshire can make the difference. It’s fundamentally wrong.”
While many in the party downplay Kennedy’s concerns,the presidential candidate is not the only Democrat in the running who’s upset. Marianne Williamson, a spiritual author also primarying against Biden, has been consistent in her condemnation of the way the DNC conducts the business of primaries — from the changing calendar to the lack of debates.
Off the campaign trail, the debate has even stretched to the halls of Congress. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has lobbied to make sure New Hampshire is one of several contests that’s allowed to vote early.
“Ro has been pushing for a solution to make sure that New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Michigan are all in the early state lineup given the current state laws,” Khanna’s campaign spokesperson told The Hill.
Khanna has been to the state numerous times in recent months, simultaneously pitching Biden’s reelection campaign and a populist economic argument. He “hopes there can be consensus” around the early order, the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, multiple sources also said they are concerned about how the change in order may upend other ballots, including local races that are expected to impact the state’s day-to-day governing.
Democrats have consistently tried to nudge enough voters who are on the sidelines and lean independent to vote blue, and have been successful in that regard. In 2022, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) won reelection against Trump-aligned Don Bolduc after speculation that her Senate seat may flip red. And Rep. Chris Pappas won New Hampshire’s 1st District over Karoline Leavitt, who is now a spokesperson for Make America Great Again Inc.
But Democrats stress there’s no guarantee that the state will continue to trend blue. Fears over potential implications for Biden and down-ballot candidates have persisted as the DNC has met several times to discuss rules changes.
“Wait a minute,” Kucinich warned. “This isn’t only about a primary. This is about a general election.”
The Biden administration is treading carefully in order to placate Democratic mayors and governors who are under growing pressure to find a solution to the immigration inflow.
With regard to immigration, where Republicans have mainly set the agenda, particularly by busing migrants to left-leaning cities throughout the north, this complicated connection exposes fundamental Democratic weaknesses.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) last week pointed to the approximately 100,000 migrants who have arrived in his city over the last year, saying, “This issue will destroy New York City.”
That characterization was a dramatic escalation that has been brewing for months.
Governors in New York and Massachusetts declared states of emergency over the issue in the summer, and Adams did so for his city last fall.
And while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has deemed it an “asylum seeker crisis,” she’s butted heads with Adams by resisting his calls to send migrants to shelters elsewhere in the state.
Hochul has also taken care not to alienate the White House, which hosted her last month for talks on how to improve state-federal coordination.
Adams’s combative approach has all but burned his bridges with the Biden administration — and rankled immigration advocates.
“Eric Adams is an anomaly. He has no idea how to run a government, so let’s just put him on the side. Clearly, as somebody who’s representing the city of immigrants, [he] is totally off base and hasn’t been able to coordinate with people on the ground. I mean, he’s just an anomaly,” said Beatriz Lopez, deputy director of Immigration Hub.
“And then you have mayors, reasonable mayors, who just want the Biden administration to embrace an opportunity that will help local economies that will help people who have been long settled in their states, in their cities, to just have an opportunity to work lawfully.”
Though the Biden administration has taken measures to reduce the number of asylum seekers allowed into the country — including adopting a policy that hews closely to Trump-era restrictions barring those who don’t first seek asylum elsewhere — numbers at the border have begun to tick up in July after falling in June following the policy shift.
And the focus on northern cities has been compounded by GOP governors in Texas and Florida, as well as in Arizona when under Republican leadership, as they have bused migrants north, failing to coordinate with the cities while arguing the liberal enclaves need to witness the struggles of border communities.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) struck a different tone from Adams while warning that his city is also strained.
“I’m not going to accept the notion that the city of Chicago is going to be destroyed. … This is not a challenge that will overwhelm us,” Johnson said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times last week.
Still, he’s pitched the idea of heated tents as a way to house migrants ahead of the Chicago winter.
“These families are coming to the city of Chicago. … If we do not create an infrastructure where we’re able to support and, quite frankly, contain these individuals who have experienced a great deal of harm, individuals who are desperate — if we do not provide support for these individuals and these families, that type of desperation will lead to chaos,” Johnson said.
The criticism has led to a chain of finger-pointing. While government officials say they want more help from the federal government, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has blamed Republicans in Congress for failing to engage on immigration reform and for treating migrants like political pawns in busing them around the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, during a roundtable with reporters, said that while he does not agree with all “the rhetoric that is being expressed … I think the challenges are real.”
“These are welcoming cities, and I think they are committed to remaining so, but the strains that they are experiencing underlie their expressions of concern. And we have asked Congress for more sheltered services program funding. We hope that Congress will equip us to work with the cities to address the challenge,” Mayorkas said.
But he said the struggles are due in part to the efforts of GOP governors.
“Let’s take a step back, because one of the reasons that the challenge exists is the way in which these migrants are reaching these cities, and that is specifically in an uncoordinated way. When we have a governor send migrants to a destination without coordinating with that destination’s leadership, that is not a formula for the most efficient and effective means of addressing the challenge of migration.”
It’s not clear how much the GOP governors have exacerbated the problem. In New York, Texas has boasted of sending more than 13,000 migrants to the city, a fraction of the six-figure totals Adams is contending with.
Still, it’s clear some Republican governors are delighting in the dynamic.
“He could not last a week in Texas. They have so few migrants in New York compared to what we get every single day, Jesse. It’s just outrageous,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said of Adams during an interview this week with Fox News’s Jesse Watters.
“What’s maddening is the fact that in New York and Chicago and D.C. and L.A. and other places, they put out policies self-proclaiming that they’re sanctuary cities, and they love to promote these liberal ideologies until they have to actually live up and apply them. … This is a day of reckoning,” Abbott added.
In the wake of shelter crowding, some governors have made specific asks, including the additional funding that Mayorkas referenced.
But many have also focused on speeding work permits, something Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) wrote last week would would be a win-win in a state struggling with finding enough workers. Hochul and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) have made similar calls.
Mayorkas mentioned work permit issues as just one point within a larger broken immigration system he wants Congress to address.
“One of the elements that evidences how our system is ill-equipped to meet the moment is the fact that individuals who are applicants for asylum have to wait 180 days before they can work, despite the tremendous need for labor in our economy and their eagerness to work,” he said.
That finger-pointing has grown old for many advocates, who know the administration understands just how unlikely it is that Congress will legislate on the matter.
The conversation for many advocates and Democrats has turned from immigration reform to work permits to allow migrants to sustain themselves outside of shelters, and to the executive actions Biden can take to expedite those permits.
In her letter to Mayorkas, Healey laid out a request to speed work permits through DHS regulation or guidance, rather than by Congress.
“We appreciate your direct engagement, but even with the exhaustive efforts of your team within the bounds of what is allowable by law, we will still be in need of expanded federal partnership,” she wrote.
At least 820 people were killed in a powerful earthquake that struck Morocco late on Friday, according to official media and the country’s Interior Ministry.
The broad strokes: Authorities issued a warning that as rescuers searched through the debris on Saturday, the death toll was certain to increase. The country’s High Atlas mountains were hit by the earthquake, which also wounded over 670 other people.
Local media reported that homes and structures, including those in the ancient city of Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage site, fell or were damaged. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8, occurred roughly 44 miles southwest of Marrakech at 11:11 p.m. local time. 19 minutes after the original earthquake, a magnitude 4.9 aftershock struck the area, according to USGS.
They are expressing the following: “I still can’t sleep at the house due to the shock and the fact that the ancient town is made up of old residences. According to Jaouhari Mohamed, a native of Marrakech’s old city, if one falls, it will induce others to fall as well.
As Morocco continues to analyze the damage, other nations and the UN offered their aid, including rescue and recovery efforts.
According to President Biden, he was “deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Morocco.” Officials from Morocco are in touch with my government. We are moving quickly to assure the safety of American nationals in Morocco, and we stand ready to offer the Moroccan people any help that may be required, the official continued.
The G20 Summit is being held this weekend, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his nation is prepared to offer “all possible assistance to Morocco in this difficult time.” On social media, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote: “After the horrible earthquake in Morocco, we are all devastated. France is prepared to assist with first aid interventions. The presidents of Turkey and Spain both made remarks that were similar. Present situation: According to USGS, strong earthquakes like the one that occurred on Friday “are uncommon” in the area, “but not unexpected.”
The magnitude 5.8 earthquake that hit near the city of Agadir in 1960 and killed nearly 12,000 people was the worst in recent Moroccan history.
Puerto Rico’s San Juan (AP) — On Friday, Hurricane Lee roared across the warm waters of the Atlantic and posed a threat of unleashing large seas across the northeast Caribbean. Before somewhat weakening, it became the first Category 5 hurricane of the year.
Currently a Category 4 hurricane, it is not expected to make landfall, but meteorologists warned it would generate dangerous waves of up to 15 feet (5 meters) across the northern coast of Puerto Rico and other nearby islands. While Lee is on a path that would take it a couple hundred miles (kilometers) northeast of the Caribbean, tropical storm conditions are not forecast for the region.
“Although the hurricane is incredibly powerful, its wind field is not particularly large,” the National Hurricane Center said.
The hurricane was located about 565 miles (910 kilometers) east of the northern Leeward Islands. It had winds of up to 155 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour) and was moving west-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).
“Fluctuations in intensity like what has occurred this morning are not uncommon in intense hurricanes,” the center said.
Lee is expected to strengthen and reach winds of up to 180 mph (290 kph). Only seven Atlantic hurricanes have had winds of that magnitude since 1966, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. Among those was Hurricane Dorian, which pummeled the northern Bahamas in 2019 as a Category 5 storm, hovering over small islands for about two days.
The center said dangerous surf and deadly rip currents would likely hit the northern Leeward Islands later Friday. They would spread to Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and Bermuda over the weekend.
“We will see waves between 10 and 15 feet (3 and 5 meters), so we don’t want anyone on the beaches,” said Ernesto Morales with the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The National Hurricane Center said dangerous surf and rip currents were forecast for most of the U.S. East Coast starting Sunday, but that it did not have further details of what else the storm might unleash.
“It is way too soon to know what level of impacts, if any, Lee might have along the U.S. East Coast, Atlantic Canada or Bermuda late next week,” the center said.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday was given the hurricane’s latest trajectory and details of preparations underway by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. About 4.5 million meals and nearly 8.9 million liters of water are available in Puerto Rico, and another roughly 250,000 meals and more than 600,000 liters of water in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the agency said Friday.
FEMA said it has also deployed rapid response teams to both U.S. territories as a precaution.
Lee is the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 and peaks in September.
Tropical Storm Margot became the 13th named storm after forming on Thursday evening. It was located about 580 miles (930 kilometers) west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. It had winds of up to 40 mph (65 kph) and was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane over the weekend. It was moving west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph) and is expected to remain over open water.
The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration in August forecasted between 14 and 21 named storms this season, with six to 11 of them expected to become hurricanes, and of those, two to five possibly developing into major hurricanes.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Jova churned through open waters far from Mexico’s southwest coast and posed no threat to land.
It was located about 755 miles (1,220 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja, California, and was moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph) with winds up to 100 mph (155 kph).
