Texas sent a plane with more than 120 migrants on board from the southern border of the United States to Chicago, representing an escalation by the governor, Republican Greg Abbott, in his bus transfer operation that has given free rides to more than 80,000 migrants to cities with Democratic governments in different parts of the country since last year.
The first flight, which Abbott’s office said left El Paso and arrived Tuesday, took place a week after the Chicago City Council cracked down on migrant bus transfers, which have come under heavy criticism. by Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Chicago city officials have said bus operators began trying to drop passengers in neighboring cities to avoid penalties, which include fines and towing or impounding vehicles.
Now, bus operators could face tougher penalties in Chicago for failing to drop off passengers at a designated arrival point or fill out documents required by the city.
Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said Wednesday that the flights were a result of Johnson’s crackdown on buses carrying migrants sent from Texas.
The flight took off a day after Abbott signed a law that allows police to detain migrants who cross the border illegally, intensifying a series of aggressive measures implemented by the state in protest of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
“Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue to take historic steps to help our local partners respond to this Biden-manufactured crisis,” Mahaleris said.
The White House criticized the flight and accused Abbott of using the migrants for political purposes.
“Once again, Governor Abbott is demonstrating how little consideration or respect he has for human beings,” White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández said in a statement. “His most recent political maneuver adds to a list of extreme measures that seek to demonize and dehumanize people.”
More than 23,000 migrants have been sent to Chicago on buses as part of Abbott’s border security mission known as Operation Lone Star, according to the governor’s office.
The multibillion-dollar operation has also included placing barbed wire along the border, floating barriers on the Rio Grande, and deploying more agents. . A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the federal government to temporarily halt cutting barbed wire at the border while the case moves through the courts.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the flights to his city.
Concerns have been raised about the living conditions and medical care provided to asylum seekers arriving in Chicago, which were exposed by the death last week of a 5-year-old boy who had been living in a temporary shelter for migrants.
