Texas Governor Greg Abbott has halted sending buses of illegal aliens to Illinois. It isn’t a reaction to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s plea to Abbott to stop sending buses to his sanctuary state. The pause is temporary.
Don’t be alarmed, my pro-bus to sanctuary cities friends. This action is due to weather conditions. It is definitely not Governor Abbott going soft on moving illegal aliens out of Texas and accepting the claims of hospitality leaders of sanctuary cities and states profess. The reason for the pause is due to road conditions. The roads are bad in winter weather. Despite what Abbott’s critics say, he is not going to do anything that might endanger the illegal aliens. Or the bus driver. The reason wasn’t because it’s cold in Chicago in the winter.
A spokesman for the Texas Division of Emergency Management, Seth Christensen, told Axios, “”The Texas Division of Emergency Management does not answer to the governor of Illinois, but rather to the directives of the governor of Texas during a declared disaster.”
Buses with illegal aliens have not been sent to Chicago from Texas for several days. The region is experiencing extremely cold weather, as is Texas. Road conditions between Texas and Illinois have deteriorated in the weather.
Last Friday Governor Pritzker sent a letter to Governor Abbott pleading for an end to the buses to Illinois. Pritzker’s approach was passive-aggressive. He begged for a halt to the busses that are arriving from Texas but he also used the same vitriol he frequently uses against Republicans. He questioned Abbott’s “humanity” and called his behavior “callous.”
Needless to say, Abbott doubled-down and told the Illinois governor that he will not stop sending buses to sanctuary cities and states until President Biden does his job and secures the southern border. Pritzker also took out full-page ads in Texas newspapers asking for mercy.
Abbott confirmed that Texas has sent more than 100,000 illegal aliens to sanctuary cities. That number includes 30,800 illegals sent to Chicago. So far, Abbott has sent 30,800 to Chicago. Rest assured, when the weather gets better, the buses will roll to Chicago again.
Christensen said the agency works with bus contractors to ensure that they can safely travel outside of the state, adding that at times they “must pause bus travel when weather conditions make interstate travel dangerous.”
“Border bus operations will continue as long as we have passengers wanting to voluntarily travel to the destinations being offered, and as long as weather conditions allow for safe interstate travel,” Christensen added.
Christensen said what is frequently left out of the sob stories about the buses carrying illegal aliens – the illegal aliens ask to go to Chicago. It is the same as any of the other sanctuary cities on Abbott’s current list of potential destinations. The current list of sanctuary cities being targeted is comprised of New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Denver, Los Angeles, and Chicago. I think many more cities should be put on the list. There are plenty of sanctuary cities across the country that should be held accountable for their dangerous policies.
Enjoy the reprieve, Governor Pritzker. It will be over before you know it.