* Mayor Johnson just being his usual forthcoming self…

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration suggested this week it has no plans to postpone enforcement of its 60-day shelter stay policy, meaning scores of migrants could soon be forced to leave city’s shelters starting on March 16.

Johnson initially side-stepped questions about this earlier this week when asked by NBC 5 Investigates if the City of Chicago was prepared to postpone enforcement again.

“We’re compassionate people, I got you,” Johnson said.

When pressed that he did not provide a “yes or no” response, Johnson said: “So, it’s not okay that I let people know that Chicago is compassionate? Let me just say it though, okay? Thank you. We are compassionate people and so we are doing everything in our power to demonstrate compassion. Now as far as whether or not we will extend deadlines, we haven’t gotten to that point, alright.”

When NBC 5 Investigates asked for clarification, Communications Director Ronnie Reese confirmed that the March 16 date still holds true for the first wave of migrants to move out of the city’s shelter system.

* I do not see how Comptroller Mendoza can accomplish this. You can’t just send the federal government a bill and expect payment unless the feds have already set the money aside, like it did during the pandemic…

From New York to Denver, city and state officials have asked President Joe Biden to pay their bills for housing migrants. So far, they haven’t got much help.

Now one politician in Illinois is trying a different approach to amp up pressure. Comptroller Susana Mendoza is opening the state’s books to the public with an online portal that allows anyone to track how money is being spent. She plans to use the tally to garner state support for her pitch to claw back funds from the federal government.

There’s precedent for that, Mendoza said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in Chicago. When the pandemic hit, states paid for things like gloves and masks before assistance from the federal government started flowing in. Illinois should also get aid now, said Mendoza, who wants reimbursement for a bill that has already reached $478 million.

“We should be able to claw back those funds,” said Mendoza, a second-term Democrat who is responsible for cutting the checks to pay the state’s bills. “This is a situation that the federal government has allowed to happen and now states are having to deal with it.”

The state can claw back some of its own revenues to, for instance, local governments and subsidized corporations.

* Good on WICS TV for debunking this hateful online nonsense…

A rumor circulating in Decatur has residents up in arms. The rumor is that 2,000 migrants are to be housed in a vacant building in the former Cub Foods building in Decatur.

The current owner of the building and city told us the posts circulating social media are not true.

“There’s absolutely no truth to it,” Tim Vieweg, one of the current owners, said.

This comes after multiple social media posts from Decatur residents saying the former Cub Foods building will be fixed up to house migrants coming to the state.

“Number one, this isn’t zoned for it. So that would be the first step that would have to take place if you’re going to change this into some sort of residential use,” Vieweg said.

Some of the posts are here…

* From Isabel…

* Block Club | 7 Things Migrants Should Know About Upcoming Shelter Evictions: Many migrants have found alternative housing support from friends, family and local volunteers. If this is not an option, you can return to the city’s landing zone at 800 S. Desplaines St. to request another shelter placement. You can also visit an “Illinois Welcoming Center” (IWC) to seek additional assistance. However, these Welcoming Centers do not provide shelter.

* Tribune | Measles case reported at Chicago’s largest migrant shelter: The site of the newly confirmed case is the most crowded shelter in the city’s web of 23 buildings currently housing over 11,600 migrants, thousands who have arrived on buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — many who come fleeing a failed economy and health infrastructure in Venezuela.

* Tribune | Amid migrant crisis, Chicago food pantries experience unprecedented demand: The network of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which includes over 800 food distributors across the city, served 186,000 households in December, a 29% increase from the previous year. While pantries don’t ask guests their status, anecdotally, a significant portion of the new visitors are Latino migrants, several organizations said.

* WREX | Winnebago County Operations committee divided on migrant solution: The resolution around the county leader’s response to the possible abandonment of asylum seekers in Winnebago County aims to inform residents that there is a plan in place to get potential arrivals to Chicago. The resolution also pushes for President Biden to pass immigration reform, but some board members say because migrants are already being sent to Chicago, the resolution is not needed on the county level.