CHICAGO, Ill. – Governor JB Pritzker is reacting to a letter sent Monday to the mayor of Chicago by Texas Governor Greg Abbott regarding immigration.
The letter calls on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to urge President Biden to secure the border with Mexico ahead of Title 42 expiring.
Pritzker says Abbott is not really trying to help the problem.
“I think that Governor Abbott is doing what he thinks is the most political thing that he can do to cause problems in the country for Democratically-controlled states and cities,” said Pritzker, at an unrelated news conference Monday.
The state has funneled $150 million in dollars and services to serve asyum-seekers since last August, Pritzker says, with another $90 million approved during the January lame duck session.
“They’re decompressing the shelters in Texas — this is what Mayor Abbott [sic] is doing essentially, is trying to alleviate any burden on his government, and send people to places in the country where he thinks he can gain political advantage doing it,” said Pritzker, incorrectly referring to Abbott as “Mayor.”
Pritzker says he’s working with the current and incoming Mayoral administrations in Chicago to see what else can be done, with tens of millions of state dollars being funnelled there to help.
Here's the response from the politician who continues to race to the bottom to score political points with no regard for the human lives involved or the consequences. And to be clear asylum seekers paroled into the U.S. are not "illegal immigrants." Shameful but sadly expected. pic.twitter.com/32lDBvUuqK
— Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) May 1, 2023
