Chicago Residents Reject Blaming Greg Abbott for Migrant Crisis

Numerous Chicago residents, including multiple Black Democrats, have sued the city in response to the influx of migrants, and they blame President Joe Biden, not people like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott has been arguably the loudest voice against the Biden administration's immigration policies, which resulted in about 300,000 migrants—nearly 10,000 per day—coming into the United States through Mexico in December alone. Federal border agents encountered about 2.5 million migrants in total last year, according to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), surpassing the previous record high from a year earlier.

Abbott recently ordered Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to arrest single men and single women illegally crossing the southern border in the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass, a hot spot for migrants entering the country. Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton refused the Biden administration's efforts to reclaim control of that area following the drowning of three migrants attempting to cross the border through the Rio Grande.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, along with others like New York City Mayor Eric Adams, have called on the federal government for more assistance as Abbott has bussed some 80,000 migrants to Democratic-controlled cities for the past year and change.

"The lack of care that has been on display for the last year and a half has created an incredible amount of chaos," Johnson said in December, according to the Associated Press.

Newsweek reached out to Johnson's office via email for comment.

There are at least seven lawsuits against the city of Chicago, including three filed by people of color, according to The Free Press. One was filed by Chicago West Side resident Cata Truss, a 57-year-old mother. Another was filed by former Texas U.S. House of Representatives candidate J. Darnell Jones, a Democrat, DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) strategist and reparations proponent who lives in Chicago's South Side.

"What the Democratic Party doesn't want Black people to hear is that this is a Biden policy," Jones told The Free Press. "Biden is allowing the borders to remain open."

The 52-year-old said the influx hit home for him and his neighbors, some 94 percent of whom are Black, when a local abandoned high school intended by locals to become a community center was instead reformulated into a migrant shelter.

"There was just this level of disgust," Jones said. "The community has wanted this building back for so long, and now you want to use in this way that would be harmful? There was no way we were going to stand for that.

"They say it's Abbott. But these migrants couldn't even be getting through if it wasn't for Biden."

A briefing from Johnson's office dated January 19 of this year and obtained by Politico highlights an intended shift in Chicago's migrant-related policies, as the city has been inundated with more than 34,000 new arrivals since August 2022.

Of the 608 buses that left states like Texas to Chicago, 501 made trips since May 12, 2023, and countless migrants have been housed at one of the city's 28 shelters that as of December 22 were not being provided additional beds.

The migrants have not just been transported to Chicago proper but also to 20-plus towns in more than seven Chicago areas.

Deidre Baumann, working as pro bono legal counsel for Truss, told Newsweek via email that she was asked to look at multiple individuals' lawsuits against the city.

"It was clear that they would not get the relief they were seeking without legal assistance," Baumann said. "I stepped up and immediately filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and amended complaint. We briefed the issues and presented an oral argument."

She said the judge in the case never actually ruled because a city site, Amundsen Park Fieldhouse, was taken off the table as a migrant shelter and programming continued as usual.

"Amundsen Park was a unique situation because it was park district property which was established for the public use and enjoyment of park and recreational facilities," she added.

"If the city and park district had moved forward with their plans—which they certainly were intending to do before we proceeded with the lawsuit; they had suspended programming among other things—they would have deprived a historically underserved community of a much-needed service in favor of the migrants.

"Because the city and park district changed course and we received the relief we were seeking, we dismissed the complaint. We were successful because of strong legal advocacy and the strength and determination of the community."

During an interview this month with CBS News, Johnson was asked if the continued shelter and other amenities like health care for migrants was sustainable.

"Well, I think you've answered it," Johnson said. "No, it's not sustainable. Congress does have to act, and if they do not act, this is going to continue to cause the type of chaos that the governor of Texas wants to do."

His statements echoed what he told CNN in December, saying he has attempted to provide calm around what has become a chaotic situation.

"I've said repeatedly, we need more resources," he said. "Without real significant investment from our federal government, it won't just be the city of Chicago that won't be able to maintain this mission. It's the entire country that is now at stake."

On Monday, Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he was "deeply concerned" about Johnson's plan to not open any additional shelters, part of a wider rift in how the city and state continue to handle migrants entering their borders.

"The city has not told the state where they would like us to put our resources to build new shelters," Pritzker said on Monday, according to the Chicago Tribune. "So, we can't help if they don't identify those locations."

Update 01/23/24, 2:26 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Deidre Baumann.