Texas Sends Immigrants on Flight to Chicago
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent a plane with more than 120 migrants from the US-Mexico border to Chicago. This comes one week after Chicago's city council took action to penalize bus operators who bring migrants into the city....
Facts
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent a plane with more than 120 migrants from the US-Mexico border to Chicago. This comes one week after Chicago's city council took action to penalize bus operators who bring migrants into the city.1
- The flight — which Abbott said departed El Paso and arrived in Chicago on Tuesday — was part of the GOP governor's alleged operation to divert immigrants to cities run by Democrats, including New York City and Washington, DC.2
- Under his 'border bus mission' launched in April 2022, Abbott has sent thousands of migrants from Texas to so-called 'sanctuary cities,' reportedly to protest the Biden administration's immigration policies.3
- The flight arrived in Chicago one day after Abbott signed a new law empowering Texas police to arrest migrants who illegally cross the border.4
- Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary, has warned that Texas will 'continue taking historic action' until the Biden administration 'steps up and does [its] job to secure the border.'5
- Meanwhile, according to Customs and Border Protection sources, total migrant encounters for December have already exceeded 190K.6
Sources: 1Associated Press, 2The texas tribune, 3CBS, 4New York Post, 5Daily Mail and 6FOX News.
Narratives
- Democratic narrative, as provided by Huffington post. Transporting immigrants away from the border is cruelty, and Abbott is making matters worse by having buses and planes drop them off without any warning or coordination with the arrival city. There are better ways to handle the influx of immigrants, but Abbott insists on using people as political pawns and making a spectacle to win points with his base.
- Republican narrative, as provided by Breitbart. Abbott is doing what he can to protect his city being overrun by migrants who have taken advantage of Biden's failed policies to enter the country illegally. Transporting individuals to cities that welcome immigrants is more humane than the Biden administration's strategy of keeping people in outdoor camps at the border.
