On Monday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott advised Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to call on President Joe Biden to secure the border in response to her request that Texas stop transporting migrants to her self-declared sanctuary city. In a letter to Mayor Lightfoot, the Governor reminded her of the necessity of Texas’ busing strategy to provide much-needed relief to overwhelmed, small border communities amid the Biden Administration’s growing border crisis.
“If you truly want to ‘work together to find a real solution’ to this border crisis gripping our nation, you must call on the Biden Administration to do its job by securing our border, repelling the illegal immigrants flooding into our communities, classifying the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and intercepting the deadly fentanyl that is endangering our country,” reads the letter. “You are right that ‘this situation is completely untenable,’ but this is not a Texas problem—this is a problem for the entire United States of America. Texas began busing migrants to sanctuary cities such as your ‘Welcoming City,’ along with Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia, to provide much-needed relief to our overrun border communities. Until President Biden secures the border to stop the inflow of mass migration, Texas will continue this necessary program.”
In August 2022, Governor Abbott added sanctuary city Chicago as a drop-off location for the busing strategy as part of the state’s response to President Biden’s open border policies overwhelming border communities in Texas. With its “Welcoming City Ordinance,” Chicago will not deny city services to individuals based on their immigration status. The city also does not require local police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
