Global Courant 2023-05-02 06:53:15
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott sent a letter Monday to outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot suggesting that if she doesn’t like busloads of migrants being sent to the Wind City, she should contact the White House. House on the open border policy.
Abbott began sending migrant buses to Chicago and other sanctuary cities such as New York City and Washington, DC, last fall in response to the increase in migrant crossings on the southern border.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at his inauguration ceremony in Austin, Texas, January 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
The Republican governor has stated that he will continue to send busloads of illegal immigrants to these sanctuary cities until the federal government secures the border.
LORI LIGHTFOOT PLEASE WITH GOV. ABBOTT STOP SENDING MIGRANTS TO CHICAGO: ‘DANGEROUS AND INHUMAN’
On Sunday, Lightfoot sent a letter to Abbott asking him to stop sending busloads of migrants to Chicago.
“The ongoing border and humanitarian crisis facing Texas and the entire United States is a direct result of President Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott said in a letter to Lightfoot obtained by NBC News. “Under the previous administration, illegal immigration was at its lowest level in decades. Now President Biden is preparing to open the floodgates by ending Title 42 evictions next week, and Texas is on the front lines of this catastrophe.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks at the election night rally at the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council on February 28, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images, File)
The Title 42 public health order was introduced at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic during the Trump administration and allowed border authorities to quickly deport migrants at the southern border on public health grounds without being taken into custody.
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT LIVES OUT TO TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT AFTER 50 MORE MIGRANTS ARE BUSING TO CHICAGO
Abbott told Lightfoot it was “ironic” to hear her lament the self-proclaimed sanctuary city’s struggles to deal with a few thousand illegal immigrants.
“With Title 42 evictions ending next week, the federal government has estimated that we could see up to 13,000 illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border each day. Some reports indicate that nearly 35,000 are waiting to enter El Paso if once Title 42 evictions are no longer in effect,” Abbott said. “If Chicago can’t handle 8,000 people in less than a year, how are small frontier communities in Texas supposed to manage 13,000 unjust people in a day?”
Migrants at the front of the line are processed for entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (Jon Michael Raasch/Fox News Digital)
The governor linked the illegal crossings to increased criminal activity, gang violence and fentanyl, which he says are not problems that remain in Texas border communities. Instead, they spread across the country and to places like the streets of Chicago.
CHICAGO MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT SLAMS TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT AS A ‘MAN WITH NO MORAL’ AFTER SENDING MIGRANT BUSES
“Innocent Americans are endangered every day by this open border policy,” Abbott wrote. “If you really want to ‘work together to find a real solution’ to this border crisis gripping our country, you must call on the Biden administration to do its job by securing our border.”
Lightfoot said in her letter that she is sympathetic to the challenges of border cities like Texas, but shifting responsibility to other cities will not solve the issue.
She also said she will continue to appeal to the federal government for more resources and support to deal with the migrant influx, while also demanding policy changes to the US immigration system.
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On Monday, FOX 32 Chicago reported that a May Day rally and march took place in Chicago calling for immigration reform.
The protesters demanded permanent housing for migrants who were bussed into the city and now live in public facilities, as well as a path to citizenship.
Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Global Courant
