Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the first time this week chartered a plane to fly migrants from his state to Chicago, marking an escalation after months of busing migrants to Democratic-run cities to protest President Joe Biden‘s border policies.
The move by the Republican governor came after Chicago began impounding buses carrying migrants. The city has said it’s enforcing a new ordinance that impounds buses without a permit and those that fail to drop off migrants at designated spots.
“Sanctuary city Chicago started obstructing and targeting our busing mission,” Abbott wrote Wednesday in a post on X. “Texas will now expand our operation to include flights to Chicago.
“Until Biden steps up to secure the border, we will continue to provide overwhelmed Texas border towns with much-needed relief,” he added.
The flight from El Paso arrived in Chicago on Tuesday night carrying about 100 people, according to Abbott’s office, which said the passengers signed consent forms available in multiple languages before departing.
A City of Chicago spokesperson said the flight that landed at O’Hare International Airport was chartered by the Texas Department of Emergency Management.
“The City is currently working to find space in the shelter system for all asylum seekers currently staying at O’Hare Airport,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement added that two unidentified individuals on the plane “fled” the scene in an Uber before police arrived.
Abbott began relocating migrants more than a year ago, and has bused more than 75,500 migrants from Texas to six cities, according to the governor’s office.
Officials in those cities have said buses arrive without warning or coordination and have dropped off migrants at random locations. It’s a practice that’s divided Democrats, with some calling on the Biden administration to do more to intervene.
In Chicago, the political clashes over how to care for an influx of tens of thousands of migrants are boiling over, with the city running out of space to care for people who are in need of housing, food and, in some cases, medical attention. Some migrants have slept in police stations and airports until there was space in shelters. This week, a five-year-old child staying in a temporary shelter in Chicago died, igniting questions about conditions at some of the shelters.
Abbott’s office said the transport of migrants to the city will not stop, even during winter.
“Governor Abbott launched the border bus mission in April 2022 to provide support to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities as the Biden Administration leaves thousands of migrants in their towns,” Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said in a statement. “Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue taking historic action to help our local partners respond to this Biden-made crisis.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
