Mayor Johnson, Garda World, and How to Make Policy Choices When Everything is Broken or Evil

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When I was working with grassroots organizing groups, we ran into a common logistical dilemma at a certain point of growth.

Scale changes everything — especially when doing something that’s never been done before in a crisis moment.

When suddenly reaching a much larger number of people, two things tend to happen.

Either grassroots groups find that the tools and processes they used for years break all at once, very quickly.

Or they find that the only people who can do what they need are companies who don’t care about their work and don’t share their values.

I like to call this dilemma — “broken or evil.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Broken or Evil dilemma when it comes to the issues Chicago’s city government is facing today with Garda World.

What’s the Deal with GardaWorld?

Since last summer, over 14,000 migrants from South and Central America have been relocated to Chicago. The majority were bused there from Texas by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott is famous for his horrific choices when it comes to immigration.

This week, the city received a record 27 buses, said Mary May, a spokesperson for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. As Block Club reports, if each bus was holding 50 people, that would mean about 1,350 migrants arrived in Chicago this week alone.

As The TRiibe reports: on Sept. 12, Chicago awarded a $29 million contract to GardaWorld Federal Services, a private security company to build large tents for migrants. The decision raised concerns from human rights advocates due to the company’s mistreatment of migrants in other states and in Canada.  

As South Side Weekly reports: research center Investigate, says Garda World oversaw the detention of immigrants held in centers in Vancouver, Quebec and Fort Bliss, Texas. In 2021, detainees went on hunger strike three times to protest “dire” conditions at the Vancouver facility. In January 2022, an immigrant died after being found in “medical distress” at a Canadian detention center operated by GardaWorld.

How Has This Gotten So Bad?

The major forces behind this problem, the forces that incentivize Garda World and make it seem like “the only option” are:

The lack of response from other states and entities,

Urgency,

Logistics and funding.

These problems are endemic structural problems when it comes to municipal government.

There are other Big Empire structural problems behind this crisis too, as discussed by UIC professor Juan Gonzalez on WBEZ — issues like America’s economic war on Venezeula, or the totality of American imperialism in South America.

But I’m focused on the lack of response from other states and entities, urgency, logistics and funding because they shape Chicago’s response to this crisis and plague local governments everywhere.

And even though these issues are not the current administration’s fault — they have to address them — creatively — whether it’s easy or not.

Republicans in Other States

In 2021, previous Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared Chicago a Welcoming City.

It was a buzzword decision, the kind that Lightfoot was very good at. Though the ordinance itself was a big deal in terms of making local coordination with ICE off limits, it didn’t mean much in terms of addressing migrants moving to the city.

Then, suddenly, it did.

Because Republican politicians, much better at buzzword politics than Lightfoot is, (in spite of her course at Harvard) decided to make it real.

Back in 2022, politicians like Greg Abbott, Texas’ nightmare Governor, began sending them to Democratic-led cities, including Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York City and even to Vice President Kamala Harris’ house, as a high profile stunt designed to raise his political profile.

This stunt was emulated by many cities across the country — it was an easy and irresponsible quick-fix solution to a crisis they were unable to handle.

Here’s the thing: states like Texas, in spite of this move, receive significant federal funding to address their supposed crisis, even if they simply use that money to bus migrants out of their jurisdiction.

Though Chicago is actually dealing with this crisis, it’s not getting the resources it needs to do it well. Chicago is expected to spend more than $255 million on this crisis, and the federal government has provided less than $21 million to support.

This kind of resource issue sets up the city for bad choices, ones where officials have to make choices based on what is available.

Other parts of the city’s budget, could certainly help address this issue — but it’s hard to figure how, especially quickly.

Johnson and other local government officials have been vocal and proactive about calling on the state of Illinois and federal agencies to fund support for groups as quickly as possible, but this aid, even when it would be fairly easy to get to the city, has been slow to come.

This was particularly frustrating yesterday when Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement that Illinois was able to handle the migrant crisis on its own, comparing Illinois’ response to New York City, where New York State reimburses NYC for a third to half of all their migrant-related expenses. As Ald Rosa said — open some shelters, JB!

Urgency

As a direct consequence of the actions of these Republican politicians, there are people sleeping on the floor of police stations across the city (or at airports).

There is no good, okay, or positive spin on this fact.

Here is how WBEZ described what is happening right now:

“The city lacks an infrastructure to house, feed and care for the more than 11,000 asylum-seekers who have found themselves here. Driven by an urgent need to help, a constellation of nonprofits, advocates and everyday Chicagoans are filling in the gaps.”

This constellation is admirable, trying very hard, and courageous. It is not a very large constellation. As the committee to address these issues has said repeatedly, they are building this plane while they fly it. There are lots of big sky metaphors in this particular crisis.

This constellation is not equipped to support the more than 2,000 migrants waiting to be moved from police stations and Chicago airports to one of the city’s shelters.

In a perfect world, there would be space and time for permanent housing to be retrofitted for those currently sleeping in shelters before the winter begins.

In a perfect world, the city of Chicago would have the money, logistical operations, people power, and to solve this sudden crisis quickly.

This is the administration’s goal. This is the goal of every sane rational person involved with responding to this crisis whether they’re in the administration or not.

There is no one who does not have the overall goal of getting those sleeping on the floors of police stations and airports into sustainable and permanent housing as quickly as possible. And yet: here we are.

Logistics

As Ald. Carlos Rosa said a few weeks ago, one of the biggest challenges facing Chicago’s city government right now is logistical —

Structural racism, corruption, and general inertia can make even the simplest tasks in local government, particularly Chicago’s local government, nightmarish.

Over the last few months I’ve heard so many examples of new leaders running into government dysfunction like:

1. Hiring processes that take months to complete,

2. Offices moving data from spreadsheets and literal file cabinets,

3. General blockading (not to mention indictments) of people in entire governmental departments.

As the 33rd Ward IPO said in a statement released last night, an organization that canvassed and worked hard to get Johnson elected — this is from the “decades of disinvestment, closure, and privatization under former mayors Daley, Emanuel, and Lightfoot,” and they’re right.

There is no overstating the damage done to resources like public housing, public mental health clinics, and public schools.”

Addressing all of these issues would be a Herculean task for Johnson’s administration even under the best conditions.

Anyone who has ever worked at a wildly inefficient job that uses systems because “it’s how we’ve always done it” can relate. Also your whole organizational budget goes to the police — sorry, I lost the thread of the metaphor here, but you get it, right?

This is not a good situation, even though it is not one caused by Johnson.

We aren’t even talking about the crisis at hand when we cover these logistics, but they’re important to remember because it makes it even harder to respond to this unprecedented problem effectively.

There is no effective or ethical ‘business as usual’ way to respond to this crisis.

What Are Other Cities Doing?

Though there are plenty of other examples of cities dealing with this issue, one example that's relevant, particularly because it involved Garda World, is Denver.

In July, Denver officials decided not to sign a Garda World contract for sheltering migrants, citing the company’s lack of experience, not to mention abuse and mistreatment.

Denver has opted to work with local nonprofits and current government services since then. However — as Rosa pointed out on Twitter, ‘it's easy to say no to pre-fabricated shelters when you're busing thousands of people to other cities rather than working to house them. Chicago isn't turning anyone away.”

To be fair, Denver was also saying no to Garda World’s abuse, lack of logistical clarity, and allegations of fund mismanagement.

But it’s true — one evil solution, done to avoid the broken solutions, to the problem of Chicago’s crisis right now, is to sidestep it entirely.

Chicago is not sidestepping this crisis.

In spite of the outcry around Garda World, Johnson is committed to remaining a Welcoming City — this is a meaningful and hard policy choice (in a way that his predecessor’s decision to make Chicago a Welcoming City on paper, was not, really).

Johnson keeping Chicago Welcoming is itself turning away from “business as usual,” even if it doesn’t address what needs to happen next. It is a moment where he is taking the opportunity to do something different, and it’s important.

But there are more decisions to make.

What Could Johnson Actually Do?

Johnson doesn't have many options when it comes to finding an urgent and meaningful solution to this unprecedented problem at scale. But he has some.

Here’s what he’s already doing:

President Joe Biden moved to grant Venezuelan migrants temporary protected status, speeding up the process for thousands of asylum seekers in Chicago to get work permits. This move brings up many of the questions Gonzalez posed re: the difference between the treatment of refugees from Ukraine v. Venezuela.

Here’s what else Johnson could do:

Johnson could drop GardaWorld completely, as a few petitions are calling for. This could potentially create a procurement process that lasts months, and winter is… now.

It also doesn’t necessarily address the main “broken or evil” issue here. The 33rd Ward statement is full of questions because, in part, there are a lot of questions to be answered here.

Are there ways for Chicago, like Denver, to address this crisis without GardaWorld quickly enough and at scale?

As heinous as it is that Garda World is grossly inefficient, full of abuse allegations, and staffed by police and military operators, legally are there even options that would get people off the floor of airports and police stations before Chicago winter really hits with Chicago’s byzantine procurement process?

These questions are the ones that movement groups are asking via protest and petitions because it’s not clear if they will get asked with much urgency otherwise.

Another option: Johnson could also continue on unabated, without really addressing Garda World, putting the urgency of the crisis above the need for communication or further discussion.

That won't work in the long term, though it might alleviate the crisis quickly — Lightfoot gave us many, many examples of how doing exactly that, regardless of your politics, will lose out in Chicago.

So perhaps the best options moving forward for Johnson, are the ones articulated by the 33rd Ward in their recent statement. Again, the 33rd Ward IPO canvassed, volunteered, and worked hard for Johnson. Their statement understands and respects the deep and systemic issues Johnson's administration is facing, while still asking important questions. From them:

If the administration earnestly believes these are the best available options, we call for radical transparency:

What are the plans and timelines to transition from tents to dignified housing?

What is the plan to prevent GardaWorld from committing abuses?

Who at the state or federal level is preventing us from taking these steps for all people seeking security and a home here?

These questions aren’t about criticizing or stalling in a crisis moment, nor are they asked without deep support for the Mayor.

They’re asked because even when you have to choose between choices that are “Broken” or “Evil” — you still have a choice.

Now What?

I’ve seen many, many grassroots groups get lost, even get shut down entirely, because of the challenges posed by the “Broken or Evil” dilemma.

Institutions are designed to be resistant to meaningful change.

But even a crisis of this scale, with so few resources in a crumpling city government, presents possibilities.

It’s easy for me to say this as someone not consumed by the sheer volume and horror of this crisis, who doesn’t have to play a role in government or in direct service to the real human beings living in these conditions. (By the way, you can sign up to volunteer here.)

Doing more differently is critical — as abstract as it might sound — is critical.

And figuring out what needs to be different requires asking these questions.

Otherwise we’re just waiting around for our local institutions to crumble, turning to “broken” or “evil” solutions based exclusively on what is easiest in a crisis moment.

As Robert Peters said on Twitter recently, as bad as this crisis is, it’s a freaking dry run practice test for the volume and depth of crisis management that climate change will continue to create and require.

Johnson knows this. He said it himself:

“If we do not create an infrastructure where we’re able to support 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.”

Unless we see these moments — horrific and impossible and monstrous as they are — as opportunities to challenge logistical inertia, Johnson is right.

The chaos will just get worse.

How the Johnson administration responds, even with limited resources, even with a dilemma that’s impossible to resolve without making at least SOME choices that are broken or evil, is critical.

Hey! If these emails help you understand tf is going on Chicago, consider signing up for a paid subscription — it helps me justify questionable choices like “sitting through 3-hour committee meetings” and “talking about nuanced political crises while on the job hunt” — or I don’t know, get a gift subscription for your least favorite public official like Gardiner, that could be funny, right?

PS — In about an hour (if you’re reading this in **real time**) there will be a public hearing on this topic — let’s see what happens!

Infinite thanks to everyone who read, edited, and sent late-night voice memos to make this piece better.