Information provided by Chicago officials appears to indicate that the transportation of unlawful migrants from Texas to the northern city has slowed to a trickle, but the reason behind it is still unclear.
According to the city’s New Arrivals Situational Awareness Dashboard, as of 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, an additional 52 unlawful migrants have arrived in Chicago by bus from Texas since the last update on Friday, January 12. The dashboard shows 34,614 “Total Individuals Seeking Asylum Arriving via Texas Buses” in its most recent update. This number is in addition to the 4,252 who arrived by airplane in recent weeks.
If Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tapped the brakes on the busing program due to concerns over the extreme inclement weather that swept across the nation over the past several days, he has not publicly announced it.
According to Axios, the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), which oversees the busing, said it “must pause bus travel when weather conditions make interstate travel dangerous.”
“Border bus operations will continue as long as we have passengers wanting to voluntarily travel to the destinations being offered, and as long as weather conditions allow for safe interstate travel,” the TDEM added.
It is also possible that the Arctic freeze in Chicago has contributed to a delay in the city’s reporting of the data.
Whatever the cause of the apparent slowdown, the conflict between Texas and Illinois over the busing program is not likely to let up.
The potential downshift in arrivals comes shortly after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker took out a full-page advertisement in the Austin American-Statesman, asking Abbott to provide “mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves.”
“Please, while winter is threatening vulnerable people’s lives, suspend your transports and do not send more people to our state. We are asking you to help prevent additional deaths,” continued Pritzker in the advertisement.
Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson from Abbott’s office, seemingly denied the request from Pritzker, saying that the Illinois governor was “all too proud to call Illinois’ the most welcoming state in the nation’ until Governor Abbott began transporting migrants to Chicago.”
“Instead of complaining about migrants sent from Texas, where we are also preparing to experience severe winter weather across the state, Governor Pritzker should call on his party leader to finally do his job and secure the border — something he continues refusing to do,” he added, per the Austin American-Statesman.
The busing program began in August 2022 as part of Operation Lone Star, the joint program between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard meant to “fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border,” according to a release from the governor’s office.
This program is one of the many steps Abbott has taken to slow down the influx of unlawful migrants at the southern border, including last week’s escalation when the Texas National Guard seized Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The seizure led to the Department of Homeland Security sending a cease and desist letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton, threatening legal action if he does not allow Border Patrol access to the park by Wednesday.
Paxton responded to the letter, stating, “Rather than addressing Texas’s urgent requests for protection, President Biden has authorized DHS to send a threatening letter through its lawyers.”
“But Texas has lawyers, too, and I will continue to stand up for this State’s constitutional powers of self-defense. Instead of running to the U.S. Department of Justice in hopes of winning an injunction, you should advise your clients at DHS to do their job and follow the law,” the attorney general continued in the letter provided in a news release to The Dallas Express.
