HOUSTON – A local non-profit focused on immigrant civil rights is reacting to a letter published as a full-page ad in multiple Texas newspapers focused on the transporting of migrants from Texas to Chicago.
The letter issued by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott explains that Chicago’s temperatures could pose serious threats to their lives.
“My initial reaction is that I think someone had to say something. It is something that we in the immigrant community have been thinking,” said FIEL Executive Director Cesar Espinosa.
Espinosa called the transporting of migrants a political game.
“There is a lot of political game that goes into this. For example, oftentimes people think that immigrants are being forced onto these buses and they’re being led in handcuffs and things like that. The reality is that most of these people are volunteering to get on these buses given their pretenses that they are going to be taken to Chicago or other places like that but unfortunately, they aren’t being told exactly what they are getting themselves into,” Espinosa said.
“You are now sending asylum seekers from Texas to the Upper Midwest in the middle of winter - many without coats, without shoes to protect them from the snow - to a city whose shelters are already overfilled with migrants you sent here,” Pritzker is quoted saying in the letter.
Pritzker asked Abbott to at least pause sending migrants to Chicago with the arctic temperatures coming to the area soon.
KPRC 2 reached out to Abbott’s office. In a statement, his spokesperson said:
“Governor Pritzker was all too proud to call Illinois ‘the most welcoming state in the nation’ until Governor Abbott began transporting migrants to Chicago. Governor Abbott launched the border transportation mission in April 2022 to provide support to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities as the Biden Administration leaves thousands of migrants in Texas border towns. 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. Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue transporting migrants to sanctuary cities to help our local partners respond to this Biden-made crisis.” – Andrew Mahaleris, Spokesperson
“Governor Abbott prides himself on being a person that’s pro-life, that’s about protecting lives but when it comes to immigrant lives, including children, he doesn’t seem to care too much about it,” Espinosa said.