Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sparked outrage after deciding to move 64 migrants on a bussed to the Windy City to a neighboring Republican suburb.
On Wednesday, 147 migrants were arrived in Chicago, city officials told Fox 32.
Hours later, 64 of them were taken to a Hampton Inn hotel in Burr Ridge – 20 miles southwest from downtown – where they will be housed for at least the next 30 days.
Republican Mayor of Burr Ridge, Gary Grasso, directed his anger at Lightfoot and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for using the migrants as ‘political pawns.’
He said: ‘We are very unhappy that nobody from the city, from the state called and told me’
Most of the migrants, who are refugees, come from South American countries, including Peru and Colombia.
‘As is my understanding, this hotel, about a year ago, when refugees came in from Afghanistan, apparently accepted several either through faith-based or charitable organizations, but now the state assumes they can just send migrants…,’ Grasso told Fox 32.
‘This isn’t about them, the migrants are fine, they’re being used as political pawns by the governor and mayor,’ he added.
The town of Burr Ridge – 20 miles southwest of Chicago, Illinois – saw the arrival of 64 migrants from the US-Mexican border this week without any formal announcements made from Illinois and Chicago officials
Republican Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, who is the grandson of immigrants who came to the US, criticized Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for using the refugees as ‘political pawns’ and moving them to the GOP suburb
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced in the summer that he would be sending buses of hundreds of immigrants, mostly from South America, to northern states due to the southern border crisis
The Greater Chicago Food Depository dropped off plates of flood at the hotel on Thursday for the legal refugees. Grasso added that no unaccompanied minors were among the 64 newcomers who were checked by the Chicago Health Department.
‘We’re more than happy for people to find freedom, it is hypocrisy by the mayor of Chicago to complain about the governor of Texas – I do agree with what he’s doing – the city of Chicago says it’s going to be a sanctuary city which I oppose – but there must be vacant hotel rooms in Chicago,’ the mayor of Burr Ridge stressed.
‘This is hundreds of people in a city of millions. Why are they sending them out to the Republican suburbs? You have to wonder,’ Grasso said in a further dig at Lightfoot.
A representative of the Burr Ridge Village Hall told NBC5 that the 64 migrants were sent to the hotel after being originally housed at the Salvation Army Shield of Hope in Chicago.
The Hampton Inn, which was previously used to host refugees from Afghanistan, ‘does not give carte blanche to the governor or the mayor to send a couple of bus loads of migrants to our village without telling us,’ Grasso angrily expressed.
‘The border situation on the southern border is a totally different situation than Afghan refugees. It’s total arrogance for the state to assume they can send migrants to the suburbs around Chicago,’ the Republican also said of the humanitarian crisis on the Texas-Mexico border.
The Hampton Inn, where all 64 refugees are staying, was previously used as a shelter for asylum seekers from Afghanistan
Immigrants coming from Texas’ border with Mexico are shown as they are expected to stay at least 30 days at the hotel, the Illinois Department of Human Services confirmed
Over the last week, more migrants have continued to arrive at the Salvation Army and other shelters in Chicago after being bused from Texas as part of an initiative from Gov. Greg Abbott designed to send asylum-seekers to northern, Democrat-led “sanctuary cities.”
Chicago became a sanctuary city in 2012 when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council passed the Welcoming City Ordinance. The ordinance protects residents’ rights to access city services regardless of immigration status.
It also states that Chicago police officers cannot arrest individuals on the basis of immigration status alone.
Lightfoot has slammed rival Abbott on several occasions for not having ‘any morals, humanity or shame.’
‘Let me say loud and clear to Greg Abbott and his enablers in Texas with these continued political stunts, Gov. Abbott has confirmed what unfortunately many of us had known already, that he is a man without any morals, humanity or shame,’ the mayor of Chicago told reporters at a press conference on September 1.
The Illinois Department of Human Services released a statement in the aftermath of the migrant’s arrival in Burr Ridge, in which it says that the village’s new refugees are ‘receiving temporary shelter in urban and suburban hotels that have provided refuge for vulnerable families from Afghanistan and other parts of the world.’
‘We are grateful for the hospitality and care they have received from individuals and organizations across Illinois.’
Food deliveries were made to the Hampton Inn shortly after the refugees’ arrival in Burr Ridge this week
‘I’m glad that the American dream is still alive for a lot of people as it was for my grandparents when they came here and for most people that are in this country,’ Grasso said in sympathy with the town’s newcomers.
‘So very happy for them,’ he added. ‘But unhappy that nobody from the city, from the state called and told me or my village administrator or any of our elected officials that this was happening.’
An estimated 300 migrants arrived Chicago last week, and city officials are now expecting more to come further into the fall from the US-Mexican border.