Source: Breitbart · 2026-08-21 · Original article ↗

Chicago Threw $640M in Tax Dollars at Illegal Migrants Over Two Years

Chicago found $639.6 million for illegal migrants while the schools posted a $732 million hole. The kids got the deficit.

Summary

  • Breitbart reports Chicago inspector-general records, cited by pastor Corey Brooks, show Mayor Brandon Johnson spent $639.6 million on illegal-migrant care from August 2022 through 2024.
  • Chicago Public Schools faced a $732 million budget deficit and layoffs in the same season Brooks asked why the migrant pile outranked classrooms.
  • CPS enrollment fell more than 70,000 in a decade to 325,000 in 2025, yet the district sought a record $10.11 billion budget for 2026.
  • State figures cited in the piece say only 43% of grades 3-8 were proficient in reading and 27% in math, while 40.1% of students were chronically absent in 2025.

Commentary

A lunch lady on the South Side still wipes linoleum after a shift and watches a third-grader guess at a word that used to be grade-level. She does not get a $640 million comfort desk. She gets a layoff notice and a mop.

That is the gap. Noncitizens who skipped the line got the pile. Chicago's own children got 27% math and a $732 million hole. Compassion that starves the classroom is a press release, not a virtue.

Ask every parent paying the levy: if the city can find $639.6 million for arrivals, who decided the kid who already lives here waits in the back?

Comments

Should a city fund migrant hotels while its own schools post a $732 million hole?
u/border_dad · 5h

A levy is not a hotel voucher. Spend it on the child who already has a desk.

u/midwest_vet · 4h

I paid property tax so a school could stand. Not so a sanctuary could outrank reading.

u/rule_first · 4h

Illegal presence is not a budget category. Make it a removal category.

u/tokyo_ally · 3h

A city that cannot teach 27% math should not advertise itself as a shelter brand.

u/docket_rat · 3h

Inspector-general paper is the file. $639.6 million is not a rumor.

u/night_shift · 2h

I punch in. My kid's school cuts staff. The hotel still has a concierge. Same city.

u/texas_mom · 90m

40% chronic absence plus migrant millions is how you lose a generation on purpose.

u/gulf_watch · 55m

Sanctuary cash is a magnet. Magnets do not stay local. They stay on the route.

u/press_clip · 30m

Breitbart printed Brooks, Forbes, 43% reading, 27% math. Start with the report card.

u/soc_lead · 15m

End the hotel line. Fund the classroom. Fly the cases ICE already has.

Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.

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