Chicago officials are preparing for an influx of asylum seekers ahead of the Democratic National Convention after Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to continue sending “busloads of illegal immigrants” to sanctuary cities, US media reported.
Chicago’s deputy mayor for immigration, Beatriz Ponce de Leon, told reporters on Tuesday that her city is preparing to welcome 25,000 new migrants from Texas ahead of the DNC, the Chicago Tribune reported. The convention will be held from 19 to 22 August at the United Center in the Windy City.
The action appears to be in response to Abbott’s threat to send more migrants to Democrat-controlled cities during a fiery anti-immigrant speech he gave last week at the Republican National Convention. In his speech, the governor also falsely claimed that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris never visited the Texas border. He said:
When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris refused to even come to Texas and to see the border crisis that they created, I took the border to them. I began busing illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C., and we’ve continued busing migrants to sanctuary cities across the entire country. Those buses will continue to roll until we finally secure our border.
Abbott did not mention Chicago or the DNC in his speech.
At the same time, Chicago officials are preparing for the influx of migrants and said they will continue their policy of evicting migrants from city shelters after 60 days, according to the Chicago Tribune . Ponce de Leon also told Axios Chicago that the city is maintaining 5,000 shelter beds.
At the height of last year’s surge in border crossings, about 2,000 migrants were arriving in Chicago each week, according to Windy City PBS affiliate WTTW. A total of 45,000 migrants have ended up in Chicago in the past two years, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In response to a Current inquiry about Chicago’s preparations, Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze said in an email that Texas will continue to send busloads of migrants to sanctuary cities. She noted:
Until President Biden and Border Czar Harris step up and do their jobs to secure the border, Texas will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities across the country like Chicago to provide much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border towns.
The dispute between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the federal government has been dragging on since March 2021. Then the politician launched Operation Lone Star, not coordinated with the centre, to prevent drug trafficking and illegal migration from Mexico, with which Texas shares the longest border of all American states, 1,930 kilometres.
