Lives have been lost since the migrant crisis started, and it is looking like more will follow in the coming days and weeks as things get more complicated. Chicago is currently experiencing extreme weather but has still been getting migrant drop-offs.
It is a potentially deadly situation as migrants can lose their lives due to extreme weather. Hoping to bring migrant drop-offs to a standstill, Illinois’ Democratic governor wrote a letter to his GOP counterpart in Texas.
In it, he warned that sending migrants now to the Windy City could cost lives, adding to the already deadly toll of the migrant crisis. “While action is pending at the federal level, I plead with you for mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves,” Governor J.B. Pritzker wrote.
“Please, while winter is threatening vulnerable people’s lives, suspend your transports and do not send more people to our state.” “Your callousness, sending buses and planes full of migrants in this weather, is now life-threatening to every one of the arrivals,” he continued. “Hundreds of children’s and families’ health and survival are at risk due to your actions.”
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Rather than listen, Governor Greg Abbott’s administration has only intensified efforts to dispatch migrants to cities led by Democrats. It is a mission that started in 2022. According to Abbott’s spokesperson, Andrew Mahaleris, it is to “provide support to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities.”
“Governor Pritzker was all too proud to call Illinois ’the most welcoming state in the nation’ until Governor Abbott began transporting migrants to Chicago,” Mahaleris also pointed out.
Chicago’s wind chill was to plummet by Tuesday morning of January 16 to 32 below zero. This is cold, so extreme it could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes. For people not used to such bone-chilling cold – especially migrants who are not ready – it could mean life or death.
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Chicago shelters lately have been so full that incoming migrants have been sequestered at a designated “landing zone.” There, they have minimal access to food and sanitation, and only the parked Chicago Transit Authority buses provide temporary heat.
There used to be 140 migrants on those buses, Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said on January 12. That value has fallen from a high of more than 300. But as of Sunday, there were no longer any migrants awaiting placement in shelters at the landing zone location.
Speaking about whether conditions at the landing zone were acceptable, Johnson said, “Look, that’s a good question, you know. It’s certainly not acceptable for the (Texas) governor to send people to the city of Chicago, but we’re meeting the moment.”
Over the last couple of weeks, mayors of New York, Chicago, and Denver have been annoyed by “rogue buses” from Texas dropping off migrants by the thousands. They tried in their own jurisdictions to slow the influx by enacting mandates for bus operators to coordinate arrivals. Defaulters face threats of impounding, fines, and even jail time.
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Leaders of several Chicago suburbs also voted this January to restrict buses from dropping off migrants without notice. In the meantime, charter buses now drop off migrants in New Jersey to evade rules aimed at curbing arrivals in New York City.
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