CHICAGO — Approximately 60 migrants coming from Texas were dropped off at Chicago’s Union Station on Wednesday night, officials said.
Ryan Johnson, a representative for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, confirmed the information.
“Today, the City of Chicago received confirmation that approximately 60 migrants were traveling to Chicago by way of Texas,” Johnson said in a tweet.
“Chicago is a welcoming city and as such has collaborated across various departments and agencies to ensure we greeted them with dignity and respect. We understand that many are fleeing violent, traumatic, or otherwise unstable environments,” Johnson said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the arrival of the “first group” of migrants bused to Chicago in a separate statement Wednesday night.
Abbott’s statement said that in addition to Washington, D.C., and New York City, Chicago will now be a drop-off location for the busing strategy as part of his response to President Joe Biden’s policies he says are overwhelming Texas' border communities.
“We will respond with essential services while these individuals navigate the next steps of their journey and our community partners have been working diligently to provide a safety net,” Johnson said.
“As a city, we are doing everything we can to ensure these immigrants and their families can receive shelter, food, and most importantly protection. This is not new; Chicago welcomes hundreds of migrants every year to our city and provides much-needed assistance,” Johnson said.
“Unfortunately, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is without any shame or humanity,” Johnson said. “But ever since he put these racist practices of expulsion in place, we have been working with our community partners to ready the city to receive these individuals.
“We know that racism, discrimination, and human cruelty have played a pivotal role in how immigrants are received within our borders, and we are still working to recover from the previous presidential administration, which encouraged this behavior,” Johnson said.
“This is such an important moment for Chicago as a city has been a sanctuary for thousands of newcomers,” Johnson said. “We are welcoming them and we will not turn our backs on those who need our help the most.”
Abbott’s statement said that “President Biden’s inaction at our southern border continues putting the lives of Texans — and Americans — at risk and is overwhelming our communities.”
As of 9 p.m. along the Canal Street side of the station, a group of about 15 people, some of whom were from Venezuela, who had apparently missed a bus were standing and speaking to each other and to a Chicago Tribune reporter. Most were men, but there was one woman with a baby.
A Chicago police officer who stood nearby told the Tribune they were all migrants and earlier, there was a much larger group who had boarded a bus and already left Union Station.
Lightfoot has been an outspoken advocate for immigrants’ rights since becoming mayor in 2019 and has not been shy about defending Chicago on the national stage. She clashed with former President Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Illinois Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey.
Months after being elected, Lightfoot crashed a news conference held by the Chicago ICE director, where she appeared with a group of immigration activists and called criticism of the city’s sanctuary ordinance “nonsense.”
The mayor later pushed a revision to Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance that prohibited police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities to deport immigrants living in the country without legal permission who have criminal backgrounds. She has also gone on walking tours in Chicago neighborhoods with large immigrant populations where she passed out “know your rights” fliers.
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