CHICAGO — Democrats have blamed Republican governors for sending migrants to their cities and called it an “inhumane stunt.”
But some of the migrants who arrived in Chicago over the weekend came on buses chartered by the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas.
Some migrants are so desperate to cross the border, they rode on top of train cars into Texas.
“Railroad operators went as far as warning us of the dangers and telling us to wait for different trains if they didn’t have enough wagons,” one migrant said. “But we were so eager to get our destination that we take the risk to get to our destination.”
El Paso’s mayor said his city is at a breaking point as nearly 2,000 migrants arrive per day.
The city sent two buses to Chicago in recent days, the first time that’s happened in nearly a year.
“Every individual that boards one of these busses is going voluntarily,” Jorge Rodriguez with El Paso Emergency Management said. “They sign a form stating that they’re going voluntarily to the destination of their choice. No one has been forced, but we are coordinating with them carefully.”
He is not the only Democrat at wit’s end.
Denver has sent seven migrant buses to Chicago since last summer.
In New York City, 60,000 asylum seekers are in 200 city-run shelters. Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is now threatening to kick out single adults without children who’ve stayed 60 days.
“As an administration, we’re really a year-and-a-half into this crisis, really needing to step back and think about long-term,” an NYC official said. “What does this look like? It’s not abating anytime soon.”
Since the crisis began in Chicago, the city has received more than 15,000 migrants.
“All we can do is respond, receive and do our best to meet the moment,” Cristina Pacione-Zayas, 1st deputy mayor of Chicago, said.
Tiny tent cities have popped up outside some police stations while inside conditions continue to deteriorate.
“There’s two things we don’t control, the number of buses and the frequency of how often they’re coming and what the federal government decides to do to manage the flow,” Pacione-Zayas said.
WGN-TV again pressed Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration to know when his $29 million temporary
