On Monday (May 1), Texas Governor Gregg Abbott (R) sent outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot a letter suggesting that if she doesn’t like him sending busloads of immigrants to the Windy City, she should contact the White House regarding their open border policy.
Abbott first sent migrant buses to Chicago and other sanctuary cities such as New York City and Washington D.C. in the fall of last year in response to a surge in migrant crossings on the southern border.
On Sunday (April 30), Lightfoot sent a letter to Abbott asking him to stop sending busloads of immigrants to Chicago.
In response, Abbott suggested the “border and humanitarian crisis” facing Texas and the entire United States is a “direct result” of President Joe Biden’s open border policy.
The letter, obtained by NBC News, included criticism of Biden’s handling of the border crisis by comparing it to the last administration.
Abbott noted that under the last administration, illegal immigration was at its lowest level in decades.
But highlighted that President Biden is preparing to open the floodgates by ending Section 42 deportations that would make Texas the front lines of this disaster.
The public health order Title 42 was implemented at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic during the Trump administration and allowed border officials to quickly deport migrants at the southern border without detaining them in the interest of public health.
Abbott told Lightfoot it was ironic to hear her bemoan the self-proclaimed sanctuary city’s fight against a few thousand illegal immigrants, stating that when Section 42 expires in a week’s time, federal government estimates predict up to 13,000 illegal immigrants will cross the US-Mexico border each day. A figure that would be far more than the 8,000 people bussed to Chicago since last year, querying how she thought small Texas border communities could handle 13,000 in one day.
