By Jessica Easthope
From New York, to Chicago, to D.C., thousands of migrants have arrived on buses from Texas. The latest stop is Illinois where Craig Johnson, the mayor of Elk Grove Village a suburb of Chicago says he’s fed up. He’s accusing mayor Lori Lightfoot of playing politics when it comes to declaring the Windy City a sanctuary for migrants.
“She wants to proudly say politically I’m a sanctuary city, I welcome you with open arms but when reality checks and five busloads show up in her city she says give them to Elk Grove Village and that’s wrong,” Johnson said.
He said he wasn’t prepared to welcome the 90 migrants who arrived in his northwest suburb.
“We’re not against migrants,” said Johnson. “We’re not against helping them, but we should work together. Our frustration is, no well-advanced knowledge, no involvement in communication discussing how we can handle it.”
And over in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser wants city council to pass legislation codifying her public emergency declaration over the large influx of migrants into the city. The governors of Texas and Arizona have bused 9,000 migrants to D.C. since April. Bowser says a number of them were misled about the availability of jobs.
“How do we treat people humanely. It also allow us to make sure that our homeless services system to create affordable housing isn’t broken down by this crisis that we didn’t create,” she said.
And in New York City where approximately 8,000 migrants have arrived, Mayor Eric Adams is making resources available. According to the MTA, the city has requested two buses to be provided a day and will determine where the migrants are taken. The city has agreed to reimburse the MTA all costs.
As for where migrants will be taken next, Philadelphia is bracing to receive busloads of families from Texas.