Migrants bussed to sanctuary city Chicago are promptly shipped off to suburbs

Andrea Vacchiano
Fox News
Fri, 09 Sep 2022 05:58 UTC

© Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

A group of migrants board a CTA bus at Chicago's Union Station after arriving from Texas on Aug. 31.

A group of over 100 migrants from the southern border were moved to an Illinois suburb after being welcomed in Chicago - an action that is reportedly frustrating local officials.

The migrants are staying at a Hampton Inn in Burr Ridge and a Holiday Inn in Countryside, according to reporting by WGN-TV. An estimated 300 migrants have been bused from Texas to Chicago in the past two weeks.

While Chicago is a sanctuary city and Cook County is a sanctuary county, the migrants at the Burr Ridge Hampton Inn are in DuPage County. The county's sanctuary status is unclear. However, Burr Ridge Republican Mayor Garry Grasso previously said he would work to secure the border and "defund sanctuary cities," according to WGN-TV.

© Google Maps

Some of the 100 migrants were reportedly sent to the Burr Ridge Hampton Inn in suburban Illinois.

Now, Grasso said he is "frustrated" by the sudden influx of migrants.

"I'm the mayor of the village, I should have been told. I'm as frustrated as Mayor Lightfoot was in her not being told," Mayor Gary Grasso said. "I'm frustrated but we're dealing with the situation and I'm going to keep my residents and my businesses apprised."

Grasso referenced Mayor Lightfoot previously lashing out at Governor Abbott for the transportation of migrants, calling it "unacceptable" at a press conference this week.

"My frustration comes from the actions of the governor of Texas," the Chicago mayor said. "There could be a level of coordination and cooperation, but he chooses to do none of those things. Instead, he chooses to send human beings across the country to an uncertain destination."

"He is manufacturing a human crisis and it makes no sense to me," Lightfoot added. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker made similar comments, accusing Abbott of treating migrants "like cattle."

Comment: HE is the one manufacturing the crisis?! What about Biden's open border policy?

Abbott shot back at Lightfoot's comments, accusing her of deflecting the blame to him instead of President Biden.

"[Biden's] inaction at our border is putting the lives of Texans at risk & is overwhelming our communities," the Texas governor in a tweet. "Texas is doing Biden's job to secure the border."

Mayor Lightfoot's office did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Comment: In an earlier Fox News report Grasso called out Lightfoot for her hypocrisy:

Grasso also said it's hypocritical for Lightfoot to be complaining about Texas Governor Greg Abbott sending migrants to Chicago, then turning around and "sending [the migrants] out to the" suburbs.

"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. 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.

He said that just because the specific Hampton Inn was used to previously house 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."

Mayor Lightfoot, predictably, called the Texas policy "racist and xenophobic" and went as far as to say that Greg Abbot is a man "without any morals, humanity or shame".