August 31st didn’t just mark the start of school for some students in the north. It also marked the start of Texas transporting their newly arrived illegal immigrants to Chicago. After declaring itself a sanctuary city, Chicago had to have known what to expect. And Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been more than happy to send the immigrants away to cities that claim they can and will take them.
Since April, over 7,000 illegal immigrants have found themselves being reassigned to Washington DC or New York City. They are given a choice as both cities have great resources for them, and both have been vocal about how they don’t think the wall is necessary and that the southern border is not a problem. This is but a drop in the bucket, as US Border Patrol has arrested 1.8 million illegal immigrants between Oct 31, 2021, and July 31, 2022.
Governor Abbott said “Mayor Lightfoot loves to tout the responsibility of her city to welcome all regardless of legal status. I look forward to seeing this responsibility in action.” His statement here is incredibly true. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been touting her city as a great city. As a city of peace where the only problems come from the suburbs, and people have nothing to worry about.
So this new delivery of illegal immigrants will test the capability of Chicago’s planning to pivot its mission and people on a dime.
According to Mayor Lightfoot’s spokesman, Ryan Johnson used his Twitter to confirm the arrival of roughly five dozen illegal immigrants. He also stated, “Chicago is a welcoming city and as such has collaborated across various departments and agencies to ensure we greeted them with dignity and respect.” While it’s great to see Chicago happily adapting so easily, this is but a drop in the bucket for the numbers being caught, let alone those getting in undetected.
With the programs focusing so much on DC and NYC, their respective mayors have been clamoring for further federal assistance. Due to overwhelmed programs, those arriving in DC are running into extreme troubles navigating their way into finding permanent housing or basic medical care. These are just two of the very problems many were encountering back in their home countries.
For their part in all of this, the White House is blaming Governor Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (another fellow Republican) for sowing the seeds of chaos and using these illegal immigrants as political pawns. The ironic part of that claim is that the El Paso mayor is a Democrat who also joined in on this by sending his own busloads of illegal immigrants to NYC, and has a group for Chicago getting ready to leave soon as well.
No matter how badly the left wants to cry about these decisions, these cities are picked specifically because they have declared themselves sanctuary cities. This means they are willing to take in and protect the illegal immigrants from the federal government and border patrol from deporting them back. By bussing their illegal immigrants there, they are ensuring they properly and safely get them to a city that can and has offered to take them in.
They aren’t just dumping them on the sidewalk, pinning a $10 note to their shirt, and telling them good luck. Instead, these governors are trying to ensure they have places to go when they get there, and that someone has a plan for them. By spreading them out across the U.S. everyone is sharing the burden, but only those who have already said they are ready to take it on are receiving them. As immigration programs go, this is a win-win-win.
