More than 15,000 migrants have landed in Chicago since August 2022 after the arrival of 27 buses from the southern border since Saturday, ratcheting up the price tag to $328 million spent so far on the crisis.
Seven more buses arrived Wednesday, bringing the city's total to 281 buses since Aug. 31, 2022; 172 since May; and 60 in September alone.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that he was sending 9,200 new migrants to Chicago. Also, the Democrat mayor of El Paso, Texas, Oscar Leeser, chartered two buses last weekend. El Paso now has sent 71 total busloads to Chicago, but the weekend's marked the first since December.
Leeser "needs to listen to the cities that he's sending folks to and start thinking about whether or not this should be spread across the country," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday. "Why is he not sending anybody to Idaho, Wyoming?"
Pritzker called on the federal government for help.
Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson held a press conference Thursday, announcing a winterized base camp so that roughly 1,600 migrants can be moved out of police stations and another 400 out of Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
Johnson spent $29.4 million on a private security firm to help relocate the migrants.
"We are a sanctuary state. We are a sanctuary county, a sanctuary city," Johnson said. "You know, this is a dynamic that we're all working to solve. And you know, the political dynamics that have provoked this moment, it's incumbent upon all of us to continue our work and the sacrifices that we all have to make to ensure that families get a chance to resettle and really experience comfort here."
Cities and towns along the southern border are being overrun by migrants. U.S. Customs and Border Protection released record-breaking statistics that showed its agents had 232,972 encounters in August, the highest number ever for that month.
"I officially declared an invasion at our border because of Biden's policies," Abbott said. "We deployed the Texas National Guard, Department of Public Safety, and local law enforcement. We are building a border wall, razor wire, and marine barriers. We are also repelling migrants."
Leeser said Saturday his city is "at a breaking point."
Eagle Pass, Texas, Mayor Rolando Salinas, a Democrat whose town declared a state of emergency this month, has called the situation a "crisis."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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