Texas buses 75 migrants to Chicago

CHICAGO — Seventy-five immigrants bused from Texas by Gov. Greg Abbott have arrived in Chicago, the latest chapter of the bitter political battle over the immigration policy of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office confirmed that the group arrived Wednesday night and said the nation’s third-largest city welcomes them. Abbott is busing the immigrants from Texas as part of a strategy launched this year to share the influx of people from outside the United States with cities that have Democratic mayors. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey also has adopted this policy.

At a news conference Thursday, Lightfoot called Abbott’s approach “racist and xenophobic” and said it added to the immigrants’ challenges. Lightfoot and officials with Cook County and the state of Illinois committed to helping the immigrants as they try to connect with family elsewhere or settle in Chicago.

“The governor’s actions are not just inhumane; they are unpatriotic,” Lightfoot said. “This cannot be who we are as Americans. We have to stand for a different and better set of principles. If we are going to be a leader in the world, on an international stage and even here at home, we must reject these policies and practices.”

Lightfoot said most of the immigrants are from Venezuela. Authorities have not said when they arrived in the U.S.

Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker also offered his support for the new arrivals in a message on Twitter that also drew on his family history.

“My great grandfather came to this country as an immigrant fleeing Ukraine in 1881. Immigrants just like my family seeking freedom and opportunity built this country,” he tweeted.

Abbott has now bused immigrants to Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

He suggested more would be arriving, saying in his statement that Chicago has become a dropoff location as a solution to what he called Biden’s “open border policies overwhelming border communities in Texas.”

Lightfoot said Chicago-area governments and community groups have been preparing for weeks in case Abbott sent immigrants here. She said she expects Abbott to follow through on his “threat” to bus more people here and pledged to continue supporting anyone sent to the city.

“He is manufacturing a crisis,” Lightfoot said. “If it continues, we will be ready.”