Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, and New York City Eric Adams are….well, Democrats.
In other words, “It’s not our fault that people took us seriously when we declared our cities a sanctuary for illegal immigrants and give us money instead of solving the problem!”
That’s honestly the best description to describe their latest antics regarding the border crisis.
Adams threatened to file criminal charges against charter bus companies that do not alert the city 32 hours before they bring illegal immigrants to the city:
The order also limits drop-off hours to between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. daily and to a single location, on West 41st Street between Eight and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan.“We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning any hour of day and night,” Adams said in a virtual press conference with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.“This not only prevents us from providing assistance and orderly way, it puts those who have already suffered so much in danger.”Failure to heed the new rules could result in criminal charges, fines, lawsuits “and even buses being impounded,” Adams said.
Johnson tried humiliating Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott while begging the government for more money instead of immigration reform.
I wrote “tried” because, as Bill Melugin pointed out, the illegal immigrants the cities have received are nothing compared to what border states deal with every single day.
“What Gov. Abbott is doing is, quite frankly, it’s reckless,” Johnson said in a CNN interview.—“Sending buses all over the state of Illinois and all over the country is reckless, and quite frankly, it’s dangerous,” Johnson continued.The progressive mayor noted that he agrees with Abbott that state and local governments must do more about immigration, but he was clear that the pair don’t agree on how that should be done.“What I’ve called for repeatedly is, again, a coordinated approach between state and local municipalities so that we can address this crisis,” Johnson said. “We need more resources.”“In no way what the state of Texas is doing is helping the cause,” he continued. “As we recognize that there are challenges — significant challenges — at the border, we do need real substantive immigration reform and policies that allow us to have a structure and a pathway to citizenship.”
Johnson added immigration reform: “As much as we recognize that there are challenges, significant challenges at the border, and we do need real substantive immigration reform and policies that allow us to have a structure and a pathway to citizenship… sending buses all over the state of Illinois and all over the country is reckless and, quite frankly, dangerous. I met with 80 mayors last Friday to have a more coordinated approach for the state of Illinois along with county officials. That is what is required in this moment: a real sophisticated coordination while also pushing the federal government to provide the resources and support so we can actually sustain this mission.”
I’m shocked Johnson mentioned immigration reform. Usually, it’s only about money.
During the meeting with Adams and Johnston, Johnson insisted his city needed money: “As buses continue to arrive in the City of Chicago and all over the country, the type of chaos that has been administered has left many of our local economies under a tremendous amount of duress. We cannot do this alone. We need more support from the federal government.”
“All of our cities have reached a point where we are either close to capacity or nearly out of room,” Johnson added. “Without significant intervention from the federal government, this mission will not be sustained.”
The Denver mayor echoed Johnson and Adams:
“We’re looking at about $160 million of potential costs going into next year’s budget. That’s almost 10% of our entire city budget. That’s a massive impact for us,” Johnston said.Congress continues to negotiate over a supplemental budget package, which could include more money for cities dealing with a migrant crisis like Denver. Johnston warned that without more federal support, things could get worse.“If there is no federal support, there’s no coordinate entry, there’s no work authorization, then I think cities would have to look at dramatically reducing the amount of services we offered or dramatically cutting our city budgets, which has impacts on other parts of city services,” Johnston said.
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