Democrat mayor demands Texas stop busing illegal immigrants to Chicago after 5-year-old boy dies in temporary shelter

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson had harsh words for Texas Governor Greg Abbott in the wake of a 5-year-old's death at a temporary shelter set up to house illegal immigrants in the Windy City. 

"The issue is not just how we respond in the city of Chicago. It's the fact that we have a governor, a governor, an elected official in the state of Texas, that is placing families on buses without shoes, cold, wet, tired, hungry, afraid, traumatised, and then they come to the city of Chicago where we have homelessness, we have mental health facilities that have been shut down and closed. You have people who are seeking employment. The governor of Texas needs to take a look in the mirror of the chaos he is causing for this country. This is not just a Chicago dynamic, he is attacking our country," Johnson said.

The boy died in the Pilsen shelter. Local news reports that "At least six people have been taken to the hospital from the shelter since Sunday, five children and one teenager, including 5-year-old Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero, who died on Sunday."

The Chicago Department of Health has been dealing with a chickenpox outbreak at the shelter. A cause of death has not yet been released but criminal activity is not suspected. "My heart and my prayers go out to the Martinez family," Johnson said in a statement. "The city will continue to provide resources and support to them during this difficult time."

"They're just dropping off people anywhere. Do you understand how raggedy and how evil that is? You're just going to put people on a bus, and just take them somewhere and drop them off in the middle of the night?" Johnson said. "It's sickening."

Johnson recently created new rules that would permit Chicago to seize and impound buses that were found to be dropping migrants off in the city. As a result, buses have begun dropping migrants off on the edges of town. Over 25,900 illegal immgrants have arrived in Chicago since August 2022, according to records kept by the city.

Officials from Chicago went to Texas to try to get the state to stop sending illegal immigrants north. Abbott has vowed to continue sending illegal immigrants to cities that have stated they are "sanctuary cities," which means in essence that they are willing and able to accept illegal immigrants. "Approximately $200 million of city’s projected budget deficit in 2024 of $538 million is due to the cost of caring for the migrants sent to Chicago," reports local news.

Abbott signed bills into law in his state making it illegal for illegal immigrants to cross into the state, meaning they can be arrested for doing so under state law. Texas and other border states have been bearing the brunt of this crisis.

Since Joe Biden took office, more than 7 million illegal immigrants have crossed into the US. Democrat mayors like Johnson and New York's Eric Adams have begged the White House to do something about the unsustainable influx, but the president has been unwilling to take strong action on this crisis.