While Texans suffer the consequences of an open border, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said her city is struggling to manage 8,000 illegal aliens.
Lightfoot condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last Sunday for busing illegal aliens into Chicago and called for him to stop the program, which resumed May 1.
Abbott started busing illegal aliens to the country’s interior last year—costing taxpayers around $1,400 per rider. So far, the program has transported more than 15,000 illegal aliens to cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, D.C., and New York City.
Lightfoot claimed Abbott sent the illegal aliens with no “resources of their own” and left Chicago officials to provide them with water, food, and medical services.
“Some of the individuals you placed on buses were women in active labor, and some were victims of sexual assault,” wrote Lightfoot. “None of these urgent needs were addressed in Texas. Instead, these individuals and families were packed onto buses and shipped across the country like freight without regard to their personal circumstances.”
Although Lightfoot said she wanted to work with Abbott, she accused him of not caring “about the trauma these migrants have already faced and continue to suffer.” She also threatened to call on the federal government to withhold all FEMA funding for Texas.
In response, Abbott told Lightfoot to blame the Biden administration’s “open-border policies” for the crisis and highlighted the upcoming expiration of Title 42, which he said may result in up to 13,000 illegal aliens crossing the border every day.
Title 42 is a public health order that allows customs officials to send illegal aliens from “COVID-19 impacted” areas back across the border without processing them through the federal court system.
Thousands of illegal aliens—who believe the expiration of Title 42 will allow them to cross the border without due process—are currently waiting in Mexico to flood into the U.S.
Abbott said Texas will continue busing illegal aliens north until President Joe Biden secures the southern border, and he and told Lightfoot that Texas border towns are less equipped to handle an influx of illegal aliens than Chicago.
“As the mayor of a self-declared sanctuary city, it is ironic to hear you complain about Chicago’s struggle to deal with a few thousand illegal immigrants, which is a fraction of the record-high numbers we deal with in Texas on a regular basis,” wrote Abbott. “Texas border towns like Eagle Pass, Brownsville, and Laredo—and even bigger cities like El Paso—cannot handle the flood of illegal immigrants rushing across our southern border.”
On social media, Abbott urged Lightfoot to pressure the federal government into solving the border crisis.
“If Chicago Mayor Lightfoot truly wants to ‘work together to find a real solution’ to the border crisis, she must call on President Biden to secure the border,” said Abbott. “This is not a Texas problem—it’s a problem for the entire United States.”
Texas Scorecard has premiered Exposed: Border Invasion, the highly acclaimed podcast series’ fifth season, where you can learn more about what’s happening on the border and why.
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