Chicago mayor treated at hospital for panic attacks amid illegal immigrant crisis, reporter claims

Two Chicago journalists reported that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has become so "stressed out" that he was hospitalized for panic attacks. John Kass and Anita Padilla broke the news on WGN-AM's Chicago Way Podcast on January 16, saying that Johnson needed medical help due to increasing stress.

They were talking about the illegal immigrant problem on air when Kass said "No amount of anti-depressants can cure him of this problem."

"I know, it's so true," Padilla said. "And you know, I actually, you brought it up, I was gonna bring it up."

"The panic attacks?" Kass asked. "The mayor's panic attacks? Can we talk about that?"

"Can we talk about that?" Padilla asked. "Because sources told me, two sources told me that he has been in the hospital for these panic attacks. And he is stressed out because this is a big, big job for him."

"He wasn't ready for it," Kass said.

"He's not ready for it, he is not ready for it," Padilla said. "He is not. He's not a leader. I'm sorry. He's not a leader. And you know a leader you know, brings people up and supports them and the Chicago Police are still waiting to see where that comes from. Yeah, he put in a good superintendent. But I still think that he needs to prove himself to the police. You know, where does he stand on that? But this immigration issue? This is not helping him at all this situation."

"And you know, when you call yourself a 'sanctuary city', you call yourself a 'sanctuary state' and guess what's gonna happen?" Padilla said.

"Don't blame Texas," she continued, "because Texas if you look at what they're dealing with, they have a massive influx. We don't even show the videos on television, the amount of people that are just standing around, you know, and now they're desperate because what happens when people don't have money or they don't have food, they they start breaking into things. They start committing crimes they start working for the cartels, they start doing human trafficking, they start becoming victims of human trafficking. So they had to do— what are they gonna do with all these people— they had to get them out of their city, and well, sanctuary city, you're the sanctuary city. So you're gonna get what you asked for."

Johnson has been under increasing pressure while on the job as illegal immigrants continue to pour into the city, fueled by Texas Governor Greg Abbott's bussing of the individuals from the border region to Democrat-led cities. He has asked Texas to stop sending illegal immigrants north, to no avail. Johnson has gone so far as to suggest that Abbott has staged an attack on "leaders of color" by shipping illegal immigrants to Chicago and New York, headed by Mayor Eric Adams.

"He is attacking democratically-run cities, and particularly cities that are being led by black leaders or leaders of color," Johnson said. "This is unconscionable. I mean, it’s a very raggedy approach. And quite frankly, not only is it reckless and raggedy, but it is evil-spirited."

Padilla worked for NBC 5 from 1997-2007 and for Fox 32 from 2007-2023 before taking a position with Florida Voice News.