Illinois Guv Begs Texas to Stop Sending Migrants Amid Extreme Cold
“Your callousness, sending buses and planes full of migrants in this weather, is now life-threatening to every one of the arrivals,” Gov. Pritzker wrote.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday asking him to stop sending migrants to his state as the Midwest experiences perilously low temperatures.
“I am writing to you today hoping to appeal to your humanity,” Priztker wrote. “As we grapple with the existing challenges of your ongoing manufactured crisis, the next few days are a threat to the families and children you are sending here. I am pleading with you to at least pause these transports in order to save lives.”
Since 2022, Texas has bused over 80,000 migrants to Democrat-run cities like Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.
In December, when Gov. Pritzker tried to crack down on the arrival of unscheduled buses of migrants, Texas had them flown into Chicago instead. Chicago has struggled to safely house all of the new arrivals, and on Monday, as a winter storm descended on the Chicago area, hundreds of migrants awaiting housing were kept in warm Chicago Transit Authority buses. “
Your callousness, sending buses and planes full of migrants in this weather, is now life-threatening to every one of the arrivals,” Pritzker wrote in his letter.
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On Friday, winter storm warnings went into effect across several counties in Northern Illinois and Wisconsin, and are expected to continue into Saturday. In Chicago, wind chills are expected to drop to between -20 and -30 degrees, bringing what may be some of the coldest days the city has experienced since 2019.
Pritzker slammed Abbott for sending migrants to Chicago “without coats, without shoes to protect them from the snow.”
He also took a shot at Abbott for politicizing the humanitarian crisis at the border.
“We refuse to play your political game of exploiting the most vulnerable for the sake of culture wars and talking points,” he wrote. “I plead with you for mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves.”
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