Outgoing Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a letter to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday asking him to stop sending any more illegal immigrants from the southern border to her city.
“We simply have no more shelters, spaces, or resources to accommodate an increase of individuals at this level, with little coordination or care, that does not pose a risk to them or others,” Lightfoot’s letter reads.
For months, Abbott has been sending busloads of illegal immigrants from the border areas in Texas to other states as a means of raising awareness to the number of migrants arriving at the border daily and President Joe Biden’s response to record high illegal border crossings. Abbott has primarily sent these buses to self-described “sanctuary cities” like Chicago, which have historically refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities that might arrest or deport illegal immigrants.
Lightfoot’s office learned that the Abbott administration would resume sending buses of illegal immigrants to Chicago beginning on Monday, May 1.
Lightfoot has bristled at the strategy, calling Abbott “racist” and begging him to stop after his administration began sending them to her city last summer. At one point, Lightfoot’s administration began placing many of those same illegal immigrants who arrived in her city onto buses to neighboring communities.
In her Sunday letter, Lightfoot once again begged Abbott to stop sending them to Chicago.
“I am, yet again, appealing to your better nature and asking that you stop this inhumane and dangerous action,” her letter reads. “Since we began responding to the arrival of migrants sent by your delegation in August 2022, we have shouldered the responsibility of caring for more than 8,000 men, women, and children with no resources of their own. That number continues to grow.”
Lightfoot claimed many of the people Abbott bused to Chicago have been in need of food, water, and clothing and some have needed extensive medical care.
Lightfoot told Abbott she is sympathetic to border communities, but said the situation his busing practices have put her in is “completely untenable” and “the national immigration problem will not be solved by passing on the responsibility to other cities.”
