Seventy-five migrants bussed from Texas by the rightwing Republican governor, Greg Abbott, have arrived in Chicago, the latest chapter of the bitter political battle over the immigration policy of Joe Biden’s administration.
The migrants are being bussed from Texas as part of a strategy launched by Abbott this year to share the influx of people from outside the United States with liberal cities. The Arizona governor, Doug Ducey, has also adopted this policy.
Abbott has now bussed migrants to Chicago, New York and Washington DC all of which have Democratic mayors.
The office of the Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, confirmed the group arrived on Wednesday night and said the city welcomes them.
“Chicago is a welcoming city and as such has collaborated across various departments and agencies to ensure we greeted them with dignity and respect,” Ryan Johnson, a Lightfoot representative, said in a tweet.
Authorities did not specify the migrants’ countries of origin or say when they arrived in the United States.
“As a city, we are doing everything we can to ensure these immigrants and their families can receive shelter, food, and most importantly protection.” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, Texas governor Greg Abbott is without any shame or humanity. But ever since he put these racist practices of expulsion in place, we have been working with our community partners to ready the city to receive these individuals.”
Abbott has been waging this battle for months and the mayors of New York and Washington have asked the Biden administration to help with what they describe as a surge of asylum-seeking migrants arriving from border states.
Earlier in the year, Abbott announced that state troopers would stop and inspect commercial vehicles crossing the US-Mexico border, a move he acknowledged would “dramatically slow” vehicle traffic near the US ports of entry. He later eased that plan after massive gridlock at the border started to take an economic toll.
