Free Republic

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday sent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a sweeping letter about the ongoing migrant crisis, urging him to stop dropoffs during a dangerous winter storm.“While action is pending at the federal level, I plead with you for mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves,” Pritzker said in the letter. “Please, while winter is threatening vulnerable people’s lives, suspend your transports and do not send more people to our state.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Sunday on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” that he believed it was “evil-spirited” that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) is sending migrants to cities “being led by black leaders or leaders of color.” Johnson said, “We have this international crisis that really requires federal intervention that local government is being asked to subsidized. Local government is not designed or built to handle such a crisis. Since I’ve been in office, we’ve had well over 500 buses show up to the city of Chicago, in fact, closer to 600 right now, over 855 flights have come to Chicago. Now, the...

Mayor Brandon Johnson (D-Chicago) went on CBS's "Face the Nation" to complain that "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is determined to sow seeds of chaos by sending his migrants to my city. If President Biden wanted these migrants in Chicago he would have flown them here himself. By thwarting the President's intentions Gov. Abbott is guilty of insurrection." Mayor Eric Adams (D-New York) wants $700 million in compensation from the Texas bus companies that are transporting migrants to his sanctuary city because "they need to pay for the cost of caring for the people they are dropping off in our...

Mayor Eric Adams of New York City announced a laughable lawsuit on Thursday, suing 17 different charter bus companies for $700 million. His claim? That they didn't "pay to care for" the illegal immigrants they transported to blue bastions at the behest of Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas. (See: New York Mayor Adams Suing Bus Companies Over Expenses of Housing Illegal Immigrants)New York City has and will continue to do our part in the asylum seeker crisis. But we can't bear the costs alone — and we won't let those complicit in @GovAbbott's scheme get away with violating our state...

Thursday on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Company,” Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) criticized the hypocrisy of blue state governors and mayors who have criticized him and his state’s effort to send illegal immigrants to their so-called sanctuary cities and states. “Some of the mayors of big sanctuary cities in America — they blame you for what’s going on, blame you for the migrants going to their cities,” FBN host Stuart Varney said. “You’re smiling, but would you like to give us a response?” “Yes, I mean, they should be embarrassed because it is utter hypocrisy,” Abbott replied. “For all —...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “is pathetic” in response to the secretary’s comments on MSNBC blaming the record-shattering December migrant apprehensions on climate change. “The REAL reason illegal immigration records are being set is because Biden refuses to enforce immigration laws,” Abbott added. Climate change? Mayorkas is pathetic. The REAL reason illegal immigration records are being set is because Biden refuses to enforce immigration laws. We will send more buses and planes. We will continue building the razor wire walls that Biden wants to tear down. https://t.co/Z0j9MVS74c — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has reshaped the U.S. political landscape on immigration by busing migrants from Texas to Democratic-led sanctuary cities. Abbott, a Republican, in 2022 began busing migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to sanctuary cities that protect undocumented immigrants from deportation, amid an influx of migrants arriving to the southern border. There were more than 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2023 fiscal year, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The governor has faced substantial backlash over the policy, as critics accuse him of using...

Chicago suburbs pass their own ordinances Lawmakers in Chicago suburbs in recent days have approved new laws similar to the busing ordinance in the nation’s third-most-populous city that aims to streamline migrant drop-offs and stop buses from leaving new arrivals “in the middle of traffic, on random street corners and at O’Hare International Airport,” Chicago officials have said. Texas has sent over 28,000 asylum-seekers to Chicago since August 2022, according to Friday numbers from Abbott’s office. “This was a tough one, because we don’t want to look like we don’t care, but we have to move forward and get a...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is ripping into Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for sending migrants to blue states and cities. “It is shameful that a Republican governor — Gov. Abbott in Texas — is using migrants as a political stunt. That’s what he’s been doing,” Jean-Pierre insisted on CNN on Tuesday. When asked to specify what she was referring to, the press secretary said, “The busing of migrants, the putting them on flights. It is shameful that that is occurring.”

In less than a year-and-a-half, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has transported 85,400 illegal migrants to so-called sanctuary cities run by Democrats who don't want to adhere to federal immigration enforcement. New York City has borne the brunt of Texas offloading the crisis to Democratic enclaves, with Abbott sending 32,200 to the Big Apple starting in August 2022, according to his office. Chicago has seen the second amount of migrants sent from Texas with 24,500 migrants arriving over the last year and four months.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was “determined to continue to sow seeds of chaos” with migrant transport to his cities. “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan said, “Thanks for joining us. And, Mr. Mayor of Chicago, I want to put to you a question about what seems to have developed overnight. There are reports of a plane from Texas landing in Chicago carrying more migrants that arrived around 1am. I’m wondering if Texas officials gave you any heads up, who’s on the plane, what happens next?”

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” said that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) needed to coordinate sending migrants to cities so it can be done in a “humanitarian way.” Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Mayor of Denver, to be clear here, I know that you have looked at New York and Chicago making decisions to restrict bus arrivals. Are you trying to take measures in your city to restrict them from even arriving in the first place?

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has defied NYC Mayor Eric Adams demands on when migrants can arrive in the city - with the latest busload set to be dropped off just as the Times Square ball drops on New Years Eve. Last week Adams issued an executive order that buses could only arrive at Port Authority to drop off migrants between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. from Monday to Friday unless given permission to do otherwise. Despite this a bus headed to the Big Apple filled with around 50 asylum seekers left El Paso, Texas around 11a.m. on Saturday morning.

On Friday’s “CNN This Morning,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that local economies are going to be crushed by the migrant “crisis” and that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is “governing out of fear.” Johnson said, “[W]e have infrastructure in our local communities that [is] not designed to carry such a burden. Local municipalities are not structured to be able to carry the weight of a crisis like this. And I’ve sent a delegation to the border to see firsthand what our bordering cities are experiencing, and what we have said repeatedly is that there has to be better coordination....

Texas has a new law that allows for the prosecution and deportation of migrants illegally entering the US from Mexico. The Department of Justice (DOJ) warned Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tx) that it will sue if he tries to enforce this law. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton rejected Abbott's contention that he is filling a vacuum left by the DOJ's refusal to enforce the federal law against this illegal entry into the country, saying "immigration is a federal issue. We will decide whether or not to enforce our law. Right now, it is the Administration's policy to allow anyone...

Sports commentator Stephen A Smith went nuclear on Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, calling the Gov. a “racist” for his “inhumane” new rules allowing state and local police to arrest illegal aliens in the Lone Star State. Abbott signed SB4 into law on Monday, making illegal entry into Texas a crime and giving police the authority to arrest those who break that new law. “The goal of these laws is to make sure that when they see somebody crossing over the border, as the National Guard see, as the Texas Department of Public Safety see, they know they’re...

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) on Tuesday suggested taking President Biden off the ballot in Texas due to his handling of immigration, citing the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling to kick former President Trump off the state’s ballot. “Seeing what happened in Colorado tonight … makes me think — except we believe in democracy in Texas — maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he’s been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history,” Patrick said in an interview...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill making Texas the first state in the union to give law enforcement officers the authority to arrest migrants who illegally enter the state.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed a measure to make illegal entry into the Lone Star State a state crime, giving state law enforcement a potentially pivotal tool to combat illegal immigration on its own amid perceived federal apathy. The law, which is slated to take effect in March, would empower Texas law enforcement to arrest illegal entrants and grant judges the ability to order their deportation, CNN reported. Under Abbott's leadership, Texas has conducted a unilateral effort to enforce its border dubbed "Operation Lone Star" that has prompted legal battles with federal government, including a dispute over...

At least no one can say that the January 6 committee didn’t have an impact! Greg Abbott, Kristi Noem, Henry McMaster, and their families will have to guard against identity theft for the rest of their lives, thanks to the committee’s work in exposing their Social Security numbers. How many numbers got exposed? “Around 1900” of them, according to the Washington Post, which came from White House visitor logs supplied to the committee. The J6 committee failed to redact those from a spreadsheet released to the public as part of its final report on the riot. Ben Carson, a Trump...