Texas charters first migrant flight to Chicago

Texas sent a plane carrying more than 120 migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to Chicago on Tuesday, marking Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) latest effort to lessen the effects of immigration on his state.

“Sanctuary city Chicago started obstructing and targeting our busing mission. Texas will now expand our operation to include flights to Chicago,” Abbott wrote Wednesday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Until [President] Biden steps up to secure the border, we will continue to provide overwhelmed Texas border towns with much-needed relief.”

In a video attached to Abbott’s post, individuals — including children — can be seen boarding the government-charted flight in El Paso, Texas.

The Hill reached out to the city of Chicago’s office for comment.

Abbott’s move came a week after Chicago’s city council began rolling out harsher penalties for buses carrying migrants that refuse to comply with the city’s safety protocols. These penalties include fines, towing or impoundment if the buses do not drop the individuals off in the designated landing zone and fill out the proper paperwork for new intake arrivals, the city said.

The Texas governor’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) is “failing to live up to this city’s ‘Welcoming City’ ordinance by targeting migrant buses from Texas.”

According to the Windy City’s dashboard tracking asylum-seekers’ arrival in the city, a total of 26,000 migrants have made it to the city via buses since August 2022, while an estimated 4,252 people arrived by flight since last June.

Abbott signed a new law earlier this week that will allow state law enforcement to prosecute migrants entering the United States from Mexico.

The legislation allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest those suspected of illegal entry into the country. Once arrested, migrants will either agree to a judge’s order to leave the U.S., or be charged on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry.

While the federal government is in charge of immigration policy, Abbott has long argued that the Biden administration does not take enough action to curb the influx of migrants into the country.

The flight marks an escalation of Abbott’s other tactic — sending buses of migrants to so-called sanctuary cities — as part of his border mission, called Operation Lone Star.

That mission has also included buoy barriers within the Rio Grande, deployment of more officers and adding razor wire along the border.

The Associated Press contributed.