Bus loads of migrants that arrived in Chicago, Illinois, from Texas last week have been relocated to a hotel in Burr Ridge, Illinois, a suburb approximately 20 miles from Chicago. Burr Ridge authorities were not given advance notice of the migrant relocation, WGN-TV reports.
"I am concerned neither the village administrator nor I were told about this," Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso told WGN. "We want to know: Why Burr Ridge?"
The migrants were granted legal refugee status and given up to 30 days at the hotel in Burr Ridge.
Grasso said he was made aware of the migrants' arrival by Burr Ridge residents notifying local officials.
The first bus from Texas arrived in Chicago on Sunday with 50 migrants aboard. Seventy-five more arrived on Wednesday.
"My frustration comes from the actions of [Texas Gov. Greg Abbott]," Lightfoot said. "There could be a level of coordination and cooperation, but [Abbott] chooses to do none of those things and instead tries to send human beings — not cargo, not freight — human beings across the country to an uncertain destination."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent migrants to Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C., due to "open border policies overwhelming border communities in Texas."
Most of the migrants are Venezuelan, according to Lightfoot. She also called Abbott's migrant policy "racist and xenophobic."
"What [Abbott] is doing is disgusting and it needs to stop," Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said. "It shouldn't be that [Abbott] is taking these people and treating them like cattle, treating them like property, putting them on busses and sending them wherever he wants to send them."
Lightfoot and Pritzker previously promised to welcome migrants and "provide a full range of services to meet their immediate needs," according to WGN-TV. Grasso, on the other hand, promised to "defund sanctuary cities" while he was campaigning for Congress.
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