(Bloomberg) — Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued an emergency disaster proclamation after hundreds of asylum seekers poured into Chicago by bus from Texas, while New York City Mayor Eric Adams said a similar influx has brought the city to a “breaking point.”
(Bloomberg) — Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued an emergency disaster proclamation after hundreds of asylum seekers poured into Chicago by bus from Texas, while New York City Mayor Eric Adams said a similar influx has brought the city to a “breaking point.”
Adams said New York is struggling to shelter, educate and provide health-care to a rush of migrants largely from Central and South America. The Wednesday statement followed criticism from legal aid advocates that said dozens of men were illegally denied shelter earlier in the city.
The 60 men were given shelter early Tuesday, Adams said.
More than 11,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since May, as part of a face-off between Adams and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has been busing migrants to New York City and other “sanctuary” cities. Abbott has tried to put pressure on the Biden administration to help alleviate the impacts from a surge in border crossings.
Thousands more people are expected to arrive each week going forward, according to Adams, who called the surge “unprecedented.”
In Illinois, Pritzker’s order allows the state to deploy 75 members of the Illinois National Guard and to provide everything from transportation, housing and medical treatment, according to a statement Wednesday from Pritzker’s office.
Buses from Texas have arrived almost daily since Aug. 31 without advance notice, and have already transported more than 500 people to Chicago, according to the governor’s office.
“Today, I signed a disaster proclamation allowing the state to speed up the procurement of the immediate resources needed to help Chicago, Cook County, and other jurisdictions provide humanitarian assistance to the asylum seekers who are being sent to our state with no official advance notice by the Governor of Texas,” Pritzker said. “Let me be clear: while other states may be treating these vulnerable families as pawns, here in Illinois, we are treating them as people.”
(Updates with New York City throughout.)
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