New York City is being “destroyed” by the migrant crisis, Mayor Adams says.
Chicago is “tapped out,” says Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
And they both know whom to blame: Greg Abbott.
It’s the governor of Texas, the one Republican they can find, for putting some of the illegal immigrants on buses heading north.
How absolutely bonkers is this argument? Let us count the ways:
- Abbott has sent 1,500 border crossers to Chicago and 5,200 to New York. That is a tiny fraction of the overall number. How did the rest get here? The Democratic mayor of El Paso sent some. And many of the others got a ride from nonprofits, including Catholic Charities, paid for by the federal government!
- “Abbott is using this crisis to hurt black-run cities,” Adams says in a bit of race-baiting jujitsu. That would be five of the biggest cities in America: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Washington, DC — where most of the migrants want to go. After all, they were told their shelter and food would be paid for, and since they are “sanctuaries,” you’ll never be deported. Who wouldn’t want to come?
- Do you know, as Lightfoot says, that many of the illegal immigrants who arrive in Chicago are in “dire need” of food, water and clothing? What does she think is happening in Texas? “You don’t solve that problem by simply sticking people on buses,” she claims. Oh, then how do you solve it? Biden isn’t feeding or sheltering them. Why does Texas have to pay for his policy failures?
To his credit, Adams has been calling out Biden by name for refusing to reimburse New York taxpayers for the massive cost. But neither he, Lightfoot or any other top Democrat is properly blaming the president for what’s happening in the first place.
These are not legal immigrants. Stepping across the border and claiming “asylum” is not a free ticket into the United States, and the search for economic opportunity does not qualify you for such.
But Biden won’t enforce the law.
Greg Abbott is not to blame, and pointing the finger at him in nakedly partisan statements doesn’t solve the problem.
You want to fix it, Lightfoot and Adams? Why don’t you charter a few buses full of migrants to Wilmington, Del. Let’s see how long before Biden wakes up.
