A plane carrying more than 120 migrants sent from the Texas border landed in Chicago on Tuesday — the latest escalation between the embattled border state and sanctuary city mayors who have begun resisting the busloads of migrants sent to their streets.
The plane was sent to circumnavigate steps taken by the Chicago City Council to prevent Texas from busing migrants to the city, Governor Greg Abbott’s office said, and was likely the first of many to begin flying across the country.
“Because [Chicago] Mayor Johnson is failing to live up to his city’s ‘Welcoming City’ ordinance by targeting migrant buses from Texas, we are expanding our operation to include flights to Chicago,” a representative from Abbott’s office said.
More than 23,000 migrants have been sent to Chicago from Texas since Abbott’s busing program began in April 2022.
Like the border, shelters in the city have been left bursting with migrants while taxpayers are forced to foot the towering bill.
A recently passed Chicago law — which Abbott’s office said was “targeting migrant buses” — has left bus operators facing steep fines or impounds if they don’t drop their passengers in designated locations or fail to fill out paperwork.
More than 120 migrants were sent to Chicago. AFP via Getty ImagesThough Abbott was able to work around the ordinance through the airlines, those 120 migrants are a piddling drop in the bucket compared to the 1 million migrants encountered by Texas border agents in 2023 alone — equating to nearly 84,000 flowing into the state per month, according to the Texas Tribune.
The White House criticized Abbott’s latest move, accusing him of using migrants as props to make a political point in a repeat of the stance taken against his busing program.
“Yet again, Governor Abbott is showing how little regard or respect he has for human beings,” said White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández in a statement.
“This latest political stunt just adds to his tally of extreme policies which seek to demonize and dehumanize people,” Fernández said.
Abbott has insisted President Biden is to blame for the onslaught of migrants arriving along the southern border — of which there were over 2.4 million recorded by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) in 2023 — and that the president is the only one who can bring real change.
“Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue taking historic action to help our local partners respond to this Biden-made crisis,” Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said on Wednesday.
The flight took off a day after Abbott signed a new law this week that would allow police in Texas to arrest migrants who illegally cross the border. Getty ImagesThe governor’s office also accused the president of hypocrisy, citing previous White House operations to transfer migrants by plane across the country under the cover of night to avoid detection.
Over 80,000 migrants have been sent across the country so far through Abbott’s busing program, with more arriving in places like New York and Washington by the day.
In NYC, two buses bearing the name “Norteño Express” and filled with migrants arrived in Port Authority on Thursday.
Over 23,000 migrants have been sent to Chicago from Texas since Abbott’s busing program began in April 2022.
The White House criticized Abbott’s latest move, accusing him of using migrants as props to make a political point.
The buses had come from El Paso, and the migrants onboard hugged one another and posed for photographers with evident joy upon their arrival. They were just the latest of the 150,000 migrants who have passed through the city since the crisis escalated.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams has been pleading with President Biden for months to send aid to the city, which has predicted the cost of sheltering migrants will reach at least $12 billion.
The federal government has allocated just $150 million to help the city.
“Yet again, Governor Abbott is showing how little regard or respect he has for human beings,” said White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández in a statement.
Abbott has insisted President Biden is to blame for the onslaught of migrants arriving along the southern border
“The source of our discontent lies in Washington DC,” Adams told reporters this week. “We need to mobilize a rally and go to DC and say to the national government this is not fair what is happening to New York City.
In Texas, Abbott has demonstrated his intention to take matters into his own hands.
On Monday, the governor signed a law making it a state crime to enter the country illegally and allowing police to arrest anybody suspected of doing so.
The governor’s office also accused the president of hypocrisy.
Over 80,000 migrants have been sent across the country so far through Abbott’s busing program, with more arriving in places like New York and Washington by the day.
Offenders found guilty will be given the option to leave the country per a judge’s order, or else face jail time and fines up to $2,000. Repeat offenses will be charged as felonies.
“President Biden’s deliberate inaction at the border left Texas to fend for itself,” Abbott said about the law.
With Post wires
