Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) on Sunday asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to end his practice of busing roughly 200 immigrants a day to her city.
Abbott responded via letter on Monday, telling Lightfoot she should take her complaints to the White House.
“The ongoing border and humanitarian crisis that Texas and the entire United States are grappling with is a direct result of President Biden’s open-border policies,” Abbott said in his letter.
“I didn’t expect to hear anything back,” Lightfoot said Monday, “but I felt like it was important to once again try to engage the governor, also to let him know what his policies and practices are doing to cities like Chicago.”
Texas has been busing migrants to northern cities for months. He was blasted by critics when he bused a group to Vice President Harris’ residence on Christmas Eve amid record cold temperatures in Washington. His office replied by saying the White House was “full of a bunch of hypocrites.”
A spokesperson for the Texas Division of Emergency Management said in September that the state had spent more than $12 million on the trips, which include charter buses and security. That estimate had risen to $20 million by November.
In an interview on Monday Lightfoot said Chicago is at capacity and struggling to provide shelter for those who are already here.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said the state has given the city more than $150 million to help pay for housing, food and healthcare. After an additional appropriation in January, Pritzker said resources were stressed and that he spoke to President Biden about getting more federal dollars.
In his response to Lightfoot, Abbott said Biden is “preparing to open the floodgates” by ending Title 42, the pandemic era border expulsion policy, when Covid public health emergency ends on May 11.
In anticipation of the an influx of border crossings, the Biden Administration plans to implement a new border security strategy that includes tougher enforcement measures.
According to reports Tuesday, the Administration is also considering sending some 1,500 active duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border do help with an expected surge of tens of thousands of immigrants.
