Mayor Lori Lightfoot encouraged residents to help support a second wave of migrants who arrived Sunday afternoon by bus in Chicago and urged Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to collaborate on a more humane transition.
The new group was shipped to the city by Abbott as part of an effort to criticize the nation’s immigration policies and relieve what he says are overburdened border towns in his state.
For weeks now, Abbott, a Republican, has been sending busloads of migrants who crossed the border in Texas to Washington, D.C., New York City and now Chicago. The first group arrived in Chicago on Wednesday.
Lightfoot, in a Sunday evening news conference, said she is frustrated with Abbott for not collaborating and cooperating with the city to provide any support.
“He tries to send human beings, not cargo, not freight, but human beings across the country to an uncertain destination,” Lightfoot said. “He is manufacturing a human crisis and it makes no sense to me.”
The new group arrived around 4:15 p.m., and the mayor said she stood ready to help welcome the migrants with dignity and respect.
“They need shelter; they need warm food. We’re making sure that there are no medical issues with any of the folks there. We’re doing for them what we would do for any vulnerable resident here in the city of Chicago,” Lightfoot said.
The mayor praised several nonprofit organizations including the Salvation Army, the Resurrection Project and the National Immigrant Justice Center.
“There is a long list of people who have stepped up in this moment and shown what Chicago is really about,” Lightfoot said.
The city of Chicago set up a website with information on how to volunteer or make a donation.
Gift cards, new clothing, athletic shoes, hygiene kits, diapers, backpacks, baby formula, blankets, books for children in Spanish and strollers are among the list of essential items needed.
“We have people coming as families, young children with their first taste of democracy and freedom in many instances and we need to make sure that the memory that they have of Chicago and of the United States is favorable,” Lightfoot said. “Regardless of where their life journey takes them, I want them to feel like in this moment that they came to this city, and we wrapped our arms around them, loved them and supported them.”
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