Texas intensifies its offensive against immigrants in the United States: it is now putting them on planes to Chicago

Texas sent a plane with more than 120 migrants on board from the southern US border to Chicago an escalation by the governorRepublican Greg Abbott, in his bus transfer operation that has offered free rides to more than 80,000 migrants to cities with Democratic governments in different parts of the country since last year.

The first flight, which Abbott’s office said left El Paso and arrived Tuesday, took place a week after the Chicago mayor’s office took the lead. measures against the transfer of migrants on busesthat they were subject to strong criticism from Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Officials in the west-central Illinois city said bus operators have begun trying to drop off passengers in nearby towns to avoid penalties, which include fines and towing or confiscation of vehicles.

Now, bus operators They could face tougher penalties in Chicago for failing to drop off passengers at the designated arrival point or for failing to fill out the documents required by the city. Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said Wednesday that the flights were the result of Johnson’s crackdown on buses carrying migrants sent from Texas.

The flight took off a day after Abbott signed the law a law that allows police to detain migrants who cross the border illegallyescalating a series of aggressive measures implemented by the state to protest President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

“Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue to take historic steps to help our local partners respond to this Biden-induced crisis,” Mahaleris said.

Criticism of Joe Biden’s government

The White House criticized the flight and accused Abbott of use migrants for political purposes.

“Once again, Governor Abbott demonstrates how little consideration and respect he has for human beings,” White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández said in a statement. “His most recent political maneuver adds to a list of extreme measures that seek to demonize and dehumanize people.”

More than 23,000 migrants were sent to Chicago on buses as part of Abbott’s border security mission known as Operation Lone Star, according to the governor’s office.

The operation, which cost several billion dollars, also included the placement of barbed wire along the borderas well as floating barriers in the Rio Grande (or Grande), and the deployment of more agents.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the federal government to temporarily halt cutting razor wire at the border while the case moves through the courts.

Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the flights to his city.

Are increased concerns about living conditions and the medical care provided to asylum seekers arriving in Chicago, all highlighted by the death last week of a 5-year-old boy living in a temporary migrant shelter.

Source: Associated Press