The migrant crisis in the U.S. is slowly taking a different turn. Several Democrat-led cities have imposed tight restrictions on immigrant drop-offs. They hope that will slow the rush of immigrants into their cities.
And perhaps, under normal circumstances, this would have worked. But at this point, things only seem to be getting worse. Some cities may have placed an embargo on drop-offs. Still, travel agencies are finding loopholes that allow them to continue bringing in illegal immigrants.
Chicago, New York City, and Denver are three of several cities receiving busloads of immigrants. The new arrivals are courtesy of Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), who kicked off the busing initiative in April 2022.
It was his response to the unexpected number of illegal border crossings. Since the cities’ mayors claim they are nearly at maximum capacity, the administrations have reduced bus drop-off times. They are now limiting them to a small window with threats of fines or legal cases against erring companies.
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Bus companies now drop immigrants off in the suburbs to circumvent these limits. Then, they board transit systems into the city. The agencies have recently been traveling across state lines to drop them off in the intended city.
Mayor Michael Gonnelli of Secaucus, New Jersey, said: “It seems quite clear the bus operators are finding a way to thwart the requirements of the executive order by dropping migrants at the train station in Secaucus and having them continue to their final destination,” Gonnelli said in a statement. He added that New York City’s restrictions may be “too stringent” and result in “unexpected consequences.”
New York Mayor Eric Adams passed a rule last Wednesday that requires buses to arrive between 8:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays at a single drop-off site. According to Gonnelli, the executive order also requires bus operators to give at least 32 hours of advance notice of arrivals to limit the hours to drop-off times.
“We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning at any hour of day and night,” Adams said last week.
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Amidst it all, several administrations have been criticizing Abbott for using immigrants as “political pawns.” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston believe that the influx of immigrants at the southern border is an international and federal crisis directed at local governments. All the while criticizing Abbott for his efforts to “sow seeds of chaos.”
Over 14,000 illegal immigrants are living in 27 city shelters in Chicago, with more than 26,000 having arrived in the Windy City since August 2022. Meanwhile, in Denver, there have been more than 35,000 illegal immigrant arrivals within the last year. More than 161,000 illegal immigrants have entered New York since spring 2022.
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In Chicago, buses now have to drop off during approved weekday hours. The Windy City is also suing bus companies. It has authorized penalties to impound buses and fine owners $3,000 if they do not follow the rules.
Bus companies have been unloading the immigrants in Illinois suburbs such as Naperville and Oak Park to escape the punishments. Places like the villages of Schaumburg, Illinois, and Elk Grove, Illinois, have passed ordinances preventing illegal immigrants from being housed in hotels. At the same time, Oak Park has been evicting 150 immigrants from a town hotel and YMCA.
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