Chicago is facing criticism for sweeping its crime, migrant crisis, and homeless encampments “under the rug” ahead of the Democratic National Convention starting today — even as the months-long clean up efforts have further highlighted the challenges faced by the Windy City and internal infighting among progressives about how best to address them.  

The last minute touches — trimming trees, removing graffiti, picking up litter, and sweeping the streets — have been evident in the area surrounding the convention site in recent days, as some have criticized the efforts as politically-motivated. 

“Our city and its neighborhoods should be cleaned and maintained as if the DNC was coming every day, not just to impress next week’s guests,” one Democratic alderman, Raymond López, says of the projects. 

Yet, far beyond tidying up, far left mayor Brandon Johnson’s efforts to address the city’s migrant crisis, homelessness, and crime — in a city that Americans view as more dangerous than Washington, D.C., New York, Atlanta, and Los Angeles — have been wracked by debates that have sometimes pitted Democrat against Democrat. 

In May, Mayor Johnson’s administration sought to move hundreds of migrants away from the downtown area before the convention, and was met with fierce opposition from local residents and the ward’s alderwoman, Nicole Lee, who said relocating the migrants was not “appropriate, necessary or fiscally responsible.”

The city then pulled back its plans for the shelter and said it was no longer considering it. Neither Mr. Johnson’s office nor Ms. Lee’s office responded to requests from the Sun for comments. 

Mr. Johnson also faced pushback on the migrant issue in the fall, as more than 11 city alders — including nine Democrats — pushed a ballot referendum to ask voters if Chicago should keep its sanctuary city status.

The mayor also sparked outrage in December, including from Democrats, as the city charged ahead toward building a migrant shelter on a toxic industrial site until Governor Pritzker stepped in and blocked it. 

In the last two years, Chicago has spent more than $460 million to support more than 46,000 migrants, many of them bussed to the Windy City by Governor Abbott of Texas, city data indicates. The enormous costs have led to months of tension including protests, lawsuits, and calls, including from Democratic Black voters, to leave the party and welcome a Republican, as residents argue the city has overspent on migrants while ignoring Black neighborhoods in need of funding and resources. 

“Any Republican candidate in the city of Chicago, now is your time. Because we are done with the Democratic party,” one Black resident put it ahead of the election. With the DNC bringing national focus on the Windy City, some fear that the city’s clean up means visitors won’t see or feel the real issues facing Chicago. 

“It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Chicago is tidying itself up ahead of the Democratic National Convention,” a director of policy research at the Illinois Policy Institute, Joe Tabor, tells the Sun. “City leaders want to keep attendees and residents safe — but they also likely want to highlight clean streets and buttoned up security, not rising crime and tent cities.” 

Summer weekends on Chicago’s troubled South Side have become known for horrific gun violence and murders, but this week, a heavy police presence, turned out for the convention, is expected to keep the usual bloodshed in check.

As an estimated 50,000 visitors believed to be in Chicago this week for the convention, Mr. Tabor says the “delegates won’t see the real impact of the progressive policies they champion,” such as “failing public schools, overworked police, a state’s attorney who doesn’t prosecute, and a projected budget deficit of $986 million.”

“It’s not a surprise the city would want to sweep those results under the rug,” Mr. Tabor adds. 

When it comes to the migrant crisis, Chicago had been preparing for weeks for the possibility of Mr. Abbott sending in up to 25,000 migrants around the time of the DNC, but the city has since said that it’s no longer expecting a large surge.  While not indicating how many migrants will be sent, Texas is promising to keep busing migrants to Chicago. 

“Until President Biden and Border Tsar Harris step up and do their jobs to secure the border, Texas will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities across the country like Chicago to provide much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border towns,” Governor Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, tells the Sun.