(NewsNation) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott flew dozens of migrants to Chicago on Tuesday after the city began cracking down on buses full of immigrants sent from the border state.
“Sanctuary city Chicago started obstructing and targeting our busing mission. Texas will now expand our operation to include flights to Chicago,” Abbott wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Until Biden steps up to secure the border, we will continue to provide overwhelmed Texas border towns with much-needed relief.”
Abbott has been busing migrants to sanctuary cities for more than a year, blaming the Biden administration for failing to secure the border and targeting cities that have designated themselves a welcoming to immigrants, including undocumented immigrants.
“Because 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, like the Biden Administration has been doing across the country,” Abbott’s office said in a statement.
Abbott’s office said migrants sign up for transport out of Texas voluntarily. So far, his administration has bused nearly 83,000 migrants to sanctuary cities; more than 24,000 of them were sent to Chicago.
Chicago has recently begun cracking down on buses that arrive in the city outside of official hours or who drop migrants at unauthorized locations. Buses violating the rules can be impounded.
Suburb Rosemont, Illinois, also made efforts to crack down on the practice, promising to ticket bus companies and arrest drivers who bring migrants to the city without permission and proof of lodging.
As Chicago faces freezing temperatures, Mayor Brandon Johnson directed blame at Abbott for the reported death of a migrant child.
“The issue is not just how we respond in the city of Chicago. It’s the fact that we have a governor, an elected official, in the state of Texas that is placing families on buses without shoes, cold, wet, tired, hungry, afraid, traumatized, and then they come to the city of Chicago where we have homelessness. We have mental health clinics that have been shut down and closed,” Johnson said. “The governor of Texas needs to take a look in the mirror of the chaos that he is causing for this country.”
The city of Chicago said in a statement police at O’Hare Airport were notified a private plane chartered by the Texas Department of Emergency Management had landed, leaving asylum seekers behind.
“Two unidentified individuals who flew with the plane reportedly fled Signature Flight and left the scene in an Uber prior to the arrival of police,” the statement said. “The flight originated from El Paso, Texas. The City is currently working to find space in the shelter system for all asylum seekers currently staying at O’Hare Airport.”