BY NBC NEWS
Chicago — Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is aware that the large numbers of migrants he is transporting from his border communities to sanctuary cities are causing chaos.
It’s easy to see the signs.
It is allegedly at a breaking point in New York. Chicago has limited time and space left before a severe winter arrives. According to D.C., housing supply is at capacity. States of emergency have been proclaimed in several cities, including Denver.
If Abbott has said anything, though, it is that he has no intention of stopping.
Abbott has been sending busloads of refugees to places that have declared themselves to be refuges for immigration for more than a year. Busing is a contentious practice; officials on the receiving end claim it occurs randomly, without prior notice, and with the intention of causing disruption. The governor’s office reports that around 75,500 migrants from Texas have been bussed to six places by the Abbott administration since April 2022.
According to Abbott, everything started out of pure desperation when he was in charge of tiny border towns that were overflowing with immigrants. He attributes that to the lenient border policy of President Joe Biden.
However, a distinct phenomenon has emerged along the way: Democrats are sounding the alarm about immigration, and leaders of blue states and sanctuary towns located thousands of miles from the southern border are now warning of a terrible situation. Democrats are putting pressure on the White House to increase funds and assume command of interior operations so that migrants are routed to places that can accommodate them.
All of this has resulted in a change in the discourse surrounding immigration, with Democrats pressing their own party’s president to take greater action to handle what they refer to as a catastrophe. And it might get worse this winter.
“Until President Biden does his job and secures the border, Texas will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities to provide much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border towns,” Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze said in a statement to NBC News in response to a question about whether the busing would continue through the winter in cold-weather locations like Chicago and New York.
Abbott asserts that he is not acting alone, citing the actions of Catholic Charities and other federally funded organizations that transport migrants to cities like Chicago and New York City via buses and airplanes. The spokeswoman, Eze, claimed that the majority of the migrants transferred to sanctuary towns could not be attributed to Texas and that the state’s share of the total number of migrants entering those places was negligible.Governor Greg Abbott of Texas
The immigration problem has already prompted warnings from New York City Mayor Eric Adams that it may “destroy New York City.” The administration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is at odds with other Democrats about where to put migrants to sleep over the winter, both in the city council and at the state level. Furthermore, according to the governor’s office, Biden’s ally, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, has repeatedly pleaded with the president to act on border issues over the phone and even while on Air Force One. He has specifically asked for federal funding because Pritzker claims his state is overburdened and running out of resources.
Abbott believes that the change is long overdue.Governor Greg Abbott of Texas
“Texas and Arizona bore the brunt of all of the chaos and all of the problems that come with it before we began busing illegal immigrants up to New York,” Abbott stated in an interview with ABC News’ “Nightline” a year ago. “Now, everyone in America is aware of exactly what is happening.”
In several regions of Texas, Abbott enjoys strong backing.
George Seay, a friend and admirer of Abbott who lives in Dallas and co-founded Annandale Capital, said, “He’s doing the whole country a good service.” “I’m not sure how substantive this is, and I don’t really understand where this is going,” was my initial thought. And when I think back on it, I believe he pulled off a brilliant move. He startled a great number of people.Governor Greg Abbott of Texas
Seay went on, “This is not a political thing,” comparing Abbott’s actions to sprinkling a bucket of icy water over the heads of state officials in northern states. “It is a national crisis that needs to be handled better; it is neither partisan nor ideological.”
According to Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser of Texas, who is also a member of the Texas State Guard, he was one of the first governors to carry out the directive to put groups of migrants on buses. Imagine the impact on small border towns that frequently receive thousands of migrants if a metropolis the size of Chicago was feeling the effects of immigrants sent there by the hundreds, as reported by Steinhauser.Governor Greg Abbott of Texas
Regarding the difficulties northern states face due to migrant influxes, Steinhauser stated, “What you’re seeing with these numbers is that some of the blowback is from communities that feel like they’re now competing for resources, competing for services with those folks.” “In a city run by Democrats, it is now affecting the Democratic Party and driving a wedge within it.”
Yes, it’s driving a wedge. Local Democratic leaders have been calling on Biden to take more action, especially in Chicago, where black and brown neighborhoods have been at odds over the site of migrant camps. Resource rivalry is a volatile problem.Governor Greg Abbott of Texas
Frost arrivesGovernor Greg Abbott of Texas
Chicago Democrats and their state counterparts are at war over the most recent location for a migrant camp, which is desperately required before the worst of the season arrives. This disagreement stems from the city’s harsh winter. The state raised environmental issues that it claims it had previously warned about, just as the city was getting ready to set up a location to house the thousands of migrants arriving, most of whom were from Texas.
A spokesman for the governor’s office stated in a statement this week, “While the city might be comfortable placing asylum seekers on a site where toxins are present without a full understanding of whether it is safe, the state is not.” “This site will not proceed with state involvement as a shelter.”
A number of aldermen demanded the resignations of a number of city officials as a result of the ensuing chaos.
The governor’s office has suggested that the Biden administration should take further steps to limit Abbott’s authority over the refugees’ destination, including launching the Office of Refugee Resettlement to facilitate their transportation.
Democrats are at odds with one another, but there are also indications that the public is beginning to doubt the party’s ability to solve the problem more effectively than Republicans.
According to an NBC poll conducted in September, 50% of registered voters thought the Republican Party handled border security better than the Democrats, while only 20% of respondents selected the Democratic Party. Furthermore, when asked which party they believed was better at handling immigration in general, 18% more registered voters in that study selected Republicans over Democrats.
However, Democrats blame Abbott directly from the South, even as intraparty conflicts erupt. When questioned about Seay’s assertion that Abbott’s busing scheme was a “magical idea,” Pritzker’s chief of staff laughed.Governor Greg Abbott of Texas
According to Anne Caprara, Pritzker’s chief of staff, “I don’t think it’s a stroke of genius; I think it’s a stroke of cruelty,” in an interview. If Greg Abbott had taken a “We’re running out of capacity in Texas, and we’re incapable of handling this, so we need help” stance, I would have far more sympathy for him. We shall thus coordinate in place of the antics, the unwillingness to communicate, the inability to try to make sense of the accommodations for these folks, and the refusal to coordinate.”Governor Greg Abbott of Texas
According to Caprara, Texas and Illinois have never communicated at any level. Migrants who left their home countries due to dire circumstances are left in the midst, according to her. She brought up incidents in which buses left migrants in the middle of the night. She mentioned a situation in which a youngster perished while traveling from Texas to Illinois as a result of Abbott’s busing scheme.
“Neither his chief of staff nor the director of an agency have ever contacted me. Caprara stated, “The governor himself has never answered the phone and called my boss.” “It actually appears that they route buses to drop-off locations where there will be the most chaos in many instances.”
Abbott’s methods have also drawn criticism from the White House, which cited one of Abbott’s bus deployments that dropped off families outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ home on Christmas Eve of last year.
How come Abbott claims to do it?
An examination of Abbott’s statements made in public over the past year reveals that the busing is justified by his claim that the Biden administration is not upholding existing immigration laws.
In Texas, there are an unprecedented number of migrants crossing the border and applying for asylum, overwhelming the state’s systems. After being vetted by Border Patrol, Abbott has moved groups of migrants to locations where he claims there is more space. He claims that the reason he picked sanctuary cities is that they are meant to be friendly to immigrants. He also maintains that no newcomer to the nation is made to board a bus; rather, only those who raise their hands to go to another city are sent.
However, Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, located in El Paso, described the question of whether migrants were willingly accepting transportation to particular towns as a “very gray, murky area.”
“Are individuals being compelled against their choice? I don’t have any intelligence to support it,” Corbett remarked. “Are people ever informed, crystal clear and with open minds, that this is what’s going to happen, this is where you’re headed, and this is how long it will take? No, that also doesn’t occur.
Regarding the lack of collaboration, Abbott has retorted that he is acting in accordance with his circumstances, without prior notice or sufficient support from the federal government.
Former Abbott administration official John Wittman said the governor has contributed to a change in the national dialogue about immigration, with cities like New York, Chicago, and Boston discussing the border.
Wittman stated, “There is no denying that the busing strategy is having an effect.” “Suddenly, there appears to be genuine bipartisan support for border security, something I don’t think anyone anticipated prior to the governor’s busing policy.
“Who would have guessed that Eric Adams would be pressing the Biden administration to address the border situation?”
Abbott now contends that major cities like Chicago, New York, and others recognize the issue for what it is.
This is not something that can continue. “Those are your mayor’s words,” Abbott said in September to an audience at the Manhattan Institute in New York City. “Those are the mayors of Los Angeles and Chicago’s comments. The Texas governor said those things.
