Lightfoot urges Texas governor not to send more migrants to Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The migrant crisis, which has overwhelmed city agencies and local volunteer organizations, is set to enter a new chapter this week.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is raising the red flag in a new letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as his administration is expected to send another wave of migrants to cities across the country, including Chicago.
Calling his actions inhumane and dangerous, Lightfoot is urging Abbott to pump the brakes on his plan, which is set to start as early as Monday. Cities like Chicago may see a surge in migrants, making a problem that is already bad chaotic.
The City of Chicago has taken in more than 8,000 by way of buses sent by the Abbott administration since August. According to Lightfoot, it has wiped away resources, resulting in a critical tipping point to the city's ability to receive more.
That's why she says she is once again telling Abbott to knock it off.
"We simply have no more shelters, spaces, or resources to accommodate an increase of individuals at this level," she wrote in a letter made public Sunday. "I know by your actions that you either do not see or do not care about the trauma these migrants have already faced and continue to suffer under that humanitarian crisis you have created."
CBS 2 has been covering the plight of migrants in the city since last summer. Housing has been a top issue for many of them. Shelters have become so overwhelmed families have sought refuge at CPD stations.
As Lightfoot prepares to leave office in two weeks, she is offering Abbott a helping hand and asking him to work together to find a real solution on the crisis. Some say it could spiral out of control nationwide as Title 42, the pandemic era policy that allowed border officials to swiftly expel millions of migrants without taking their asylum claims into consideration, is set to expire.
Lightfoot appeared on CNN This Morning on Monday, and said humanity has been lost in all of this political sparring.
"I understand and I'm compassionate to the fact that the borders are themselves, really overrun but you don't solve that problem by simply sticking people on buses to a city that they didn't ask to come to for an uncertain future and now where we are literally full," Lightfoot said.
In that interview, Mayor Lightfoot said she hasn't heard from Abbott after sending the letter. She says she doesn't expect to.