Chicago officials say Texas trip helped to address migrant crisis

A delegation of city officials who went to Texas last week said their three days at the border helped build collaboration between the border cities and Chicago but highlighted a dearth of federal funds and coordination in addressing the migrant crisis.

In a briefing with reporters Thursday, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas said the group’s biggest takeaway from the trip included the need for a coalition made up of border and interior cities, such as Chicago, to advocate for a comprehensive federal resettlement plan that includes increased and flexible funding for sheltering operations and overall expenses.

“We will definitely need to continue to deliver our message about how much more resource intensive this work is — particularly in the interior cities,” Pacione-Zayas said.

She said the delegation learned best practice methods from border city emergency management operations and also started the conversation with border cities how to…