Chicago City Wire

As Texas Governor Greg Abbott spends approximately $12 million to send busloads of immigrants out of his state, some to Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked to “have their back.”

“Chicagoans, we’re asking for your help tonight in support of the migrants that just arrived here from Texas,” Mayor Lightfoot wrote on Twitter. “Let’s continue to be a sanctuary for the newcomers to our city, and show them we have their back.”

Axios reported that this is part of a multibillion-dollar effort by Gov. Abbott. Jame Hollifield, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University and director of the university’s public policy center, said to Axios the multibillion-dollar move isn’t meant to solve major issues but to “garner votes.”

On Aug. 31, around 100 migrants arrived in Chicago from Texas via bus. The city of Chicago asked for donations of the following items: duffle bags, suitcases, hygiene kits, feminine hygiene products, backpacks, baby supplies, blankets, razors, hairbrushes, nail clippers, chapstick, band-aids, clothing for children and adults, toys and activity books and shoes.

Interestingly, KERA News reported some bused immigrants didn’t mind the ride.

“If the governor is willing to use Texas tax dollars to do this, it’s great,” Abel Nuñez, executive director of the Central American Resource Center, said to KERA. “A lot of the immigrants are very thankful, actually. I don’t know how [his] base would feel about that…we have to remember this is a free ride — a 30-hour bus ride — from Del Rio, Texas all the way to Washington, D.C.”

"The City of Chicago has received another group of newly arriving migrants from the Texas border," Ryan Johnson, Lightfoot’s Deputy Director of Communication, said in a Sept. 7 tweet. "In partnership with our colleagues from local community-based organizations, Cook County, and the State of Illinois, we are providing these individuals and families with emergency shelter and connection to needed services. We will continue to live out our values as a welcoming city and respond accordingly. For those wishing to help, please visit http://chicago.gov/support.”

The Chicago Tribune reported Naydelin Guerrel, 19, arrived in Chicago after two weeks in a detention center. After arriving at Union Station, she, unlike many other immigrants, knew to find shelter at a church in Humboldt Park.

“I’m grateful to be here," Guerrel said in Spanish to the Tribune. "I’m grateful for those that have stepped up to help us."

Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, the Republican nominee for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District, said in a Facebook post, “Mayor Lightfoot is asking for aid to help with the 50 or so migrants relocated into Chicago from Texas this week, saying “We're talking about human beings’ lives, who themselves have gone through an incredible journey just to get to the United States. I think the decent human thing to do is to cooperate and collaborate.

“In that case, Orland Park and DuPage County would like to request aid from Mayor Lightfoot for the thousands of people who have fled into the suburbs to escape the violence, corruption and adversity she fostered in Chicago… We’re talking about human beings’ lives here.”

While Republicans criticized the Democratic mayors who welcomed the immigrants, Houston Public Media reported asylum advocates wanted this.

“Abbott is one of the only state actors that is giving immigrants a free benefit, a free ride,” Nuñez said, according to Hoston Public Media. “You’re actually creating a free program that if a Democrat would have said it, he would have gone against it.”

Illinois became the first state in the country to offer free health insurance to undocumented immigrants ages 65 and older, KHN reported. There will be an estimated 55,144 undocumented seniors living in Illinois in 2030.