Democratic mayors lash out forward of feared new migrant surge

The Democratic mayors of New York and Chicago lashed out over a resurgence of unlawful immigrants anticipated alongside the U.S. southern border in coming weeks, pleading with Texas to not ship any extra of them to their cities.

New York Mayor Eric Adams stated the migrant disaster is “more than one city can handle,” and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot stated her metropolis’s shelters have run out of room to deal with the brand new arrivals.

They spoke up after reviews that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will restart his busing marketing campaign that despatched hundreds of migrants from his state to Democratic-run cities within the heartland during the last yr. The reported targets for the revived busing marketing campaign could be Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Washington.

Mr. Adams advised there was racism at work behind the cities on the GOP governor’s listing.

“Not only is this behavior morally bankrupt and devoid of any concern for the well-being of asylum seekers, but it is also impossible to ignore the fact that Abbott is now targeting five cities run by Black mayors. Put plainly, Abbott is using this crisis to hurt Black-run cities,” he stated.

Mr. Adams stated New York will do what it may well to take care of migrants that arrive, however stated his metropolis is struggling underneath the burden.

“With a vacuum of leadership from border states, we need the federal government to step in and provide us with support and to prevent this cruelty from continuing,” he stated.

Ms. Lightfoot, in the meantime, posted on Twitter that her metropolis can’t deal with extra.

“We simply have no more shelters, spaces or resources to accommodate an increase of individuals at this level, with little coordination or care, that does not pose a risk to them or others,” stated the mayor, who received workplace 4 years in the past on guarantees of being a “sanctuary city” for unlawful immigrants.

Ms. Lightfoot misplaced her reelection bid earlier this yr. Democrat Brandon Johnson, who can be Black, is about to take workplace May 15.

Mr. Abbott’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for touch upon his plans. His backers contend that the busing marketing campaign strikes migrants who need to go away the state and are already heading within the path of the sanctuary cities.

If true, that means that New York, Chicago and the remaining will see the identical variety of folks whatever the busing. The solely distinction is timing.

The cities, although, contend that Texas has duped migrants into boarding the buses.

The border state of affairs cooled barely earlier this yr, with unlawful immigrant encounters dropping from the very excessive ranges after the Biden administration introduced a plan to attempt to divert among the migrants from sneaking throughout the boundary to getting into by border crossings. Texas noticed its numbers if unlawful crossers drop considerably.

But the state is getting ready for a brand new surge on May 11, when the Title 42 pandemic emergency expires and Homeland Security will lose its energy to shortly expel unlawful immigrants.