Chicago, Denver mayors place blame on Gov. Abbott for migration ‘chaos’

by Sarah Fortinsky - 12/31/23 1:33 PM ET

The Democratic mayors of Chicago and Denver gave a joint interview Sunday in which they acknowledged the “crisis” on the southern border but placed much of the blame on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for creating more “chaos” in his approach to migration.

In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stressed their frustration with the surprise arrivals of buses and airplanes in theirs and other cities.

Johnston said he has not considered turning away buses — as some other cities’ mayors have – but asked that city officials be notified that the buses were coming before they arrived and that the buses arrive during regular working hours and at regular bus stops.

“All we want is a system that is humanitarian for both the new folks that are arriving and for our cities and our city employees. And so, we understand there will be an inflow, we have already had 35,000 migrants arrive to Denver, we’ve successfully helped them integrate into the country here,” Johnston said. “What we don’t want is people arriving at 2:00 in the morning at a city and county building with women and children outside in 10-degree weather and no support.

“We want buses here to do what every other bus does, which is land at a bus station and a bus stop at hours when we can have staff there to receive them and to direct them towards services,” he continued. “And so we understand the flow is coming. We just want it to be coordinated, and in a humanitarian way, which we think makes it effective for the city and for those newcomers. That means things like arriving 8:00 to 5:00, Monday to Friday, with notice.”

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Johnston further said that his city has work authorization, so it is happy to accept asylees, pointing to the successful integration of Ukrainians and Afghans who fled their countries.

“When people arrive, we actually have work authorization, when they get to a place like Denver, so we can put them to work, which is what they want. And we have a coordinated entry plan where it’s not just the governor of Texas deciding what cities to send people to, but it’s actually the way we’ve welcomed asylees in this country for years,” he said. “When we had asylees from Afghanistan or Ukraine, we had federal support, we had coordinated entry, we had work authorization and those efforts worked quite smoothly. America knows how to do this. We think we can do it here.”

Both mayors sidestepped opportunities to criticize the Biden administration, acknowledging the benefit of federal dollars but also largely referring to the White House as partners in addressing the problem.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott endorses Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump during an event at the South Texas International Airport Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, in Edinburg, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

When asked whether he got everything he needed from the White House, Johnson said he looked to Congress for action before blaming Abbott.

“Well look, I think there’s no secret here that we need comprehensive immigration reform. This comprehensive immigration reform would certainly transform this situation. In fact, it solves this crisis,” he said. “What we have said repeatedly is that we need Congress to act to provide the resources that are needed in order to carry out this mission”

He continued: “But what we can’t have is a governor in the state of Texas, acting the way he is acting and quite frankly, the rogue buses that are being dropped off across this country in the middle of the night, leaving people with no real support at all, no coordination with the local municipalities.”

“That type of chaos,” he said, “it’s certainly dividing our country, and we need better coordination between all levels of government to be able to respond to this mission.”

In a statement provided Tuesday to The Hill, Renae Eze, a spokesperson for Abbott, blasted the mayors for their remarks.

“The sheer hypocrisy of these Democrat mayors knows no bounds,” Eze wrote. “They are now going to extreme lengths to avoid fulfilling their self-declared sanctuary city promises, yet they remain silent as President Biden transports migrants all around the country and oftentimes in the cover of night. Instead of attacking Texas’ efforts to provide relief to our overwhelmed border communities, these Democrat mayors should call on their party leader to finally do his job and secure the border – something he continues refusing to do.”

Updated on Jan. 2 at 4:22 p.m.

Tags Greg Abbott immigration Joe Biden