Thousands of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have been bused from Texas to Chicago since 2022

In the past year and a half, Chicago has seen nearly 35,000 migrants sent from the southern border. Most have been bused to Chicago as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’a Operation Lone Star, a program he started to combat drug and human smuggling at the Texas border, according to a statement.  But the move has turned into a political feud, using migrants to protest federal immigration policies and as a way to put pressure on democratic leaders. 

Once migrants cross into Texas -most paroled into the country seeking asylum- many are then transported by bus to some of the largest sanctuary cities across the country. Thousands of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have been bused to New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Denver. 

Experts say the exhaustion from persistent economic and political turmoil of an authoritarian regime has caused over 7 million people to leave the country in the world’s largest displacement crisis. 

Here’s a timeline of how busing has developed in Chicago. 

August 31, 2022 

At the very end of August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced in a statement that the first bus of migrants had arrived in Chicago from Texas. Abbott had already been sending buses of migrants to Washington, D.C., followed by New York City.

“President Biden’s inaction at our southern border continues putting the lives of Texans—and Americans—at risk and is overwhelming our communities,” Abbott said in the statement. “Mayor Lightfoot loves to tout the responsibility of her city to welcome all regardless of legal status, and I look forward to seeing this responsibility in action as these migrants receive resources from a sanctuary city with the capacity to serve them.” 

The term “sanctuary city” is used to describe a city where individuals will not be asked about immigration status, disclose that information to authorities, or deny services based on immigration status.

“We understand that many are fleeing violent, traumatic, or otherwise unstable environments. We will respond with essential services while these individuals navigate the next steps of their journey and our community partners have been working diligently to provide a safety net,” Lightfoot said in a statement. 

September 24, 2022 

More than 1,000 migrants had been bused to Chicago by September 24, a little under a month after the first buses arrived, according to reports. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mirrored Abbott’s plan and shipped migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. 

Sen. Dick Durbin from Illinois expressed his disapproval of both governors’ practices. 

“It’s pathetic that [Abbott and DeSantis] are taking advantage of these helpless people and making promises to them to get on that bus, and life is just going to be fine,” Durbin said. 

April 30, 2023

Lightfoot sent a letter to Abbott asking him to stop sending migrants to Chicago. About 8,000 migrants had been sent to Chicago by then.

“I know by your actions that you either do not see or do not care about the trauma these migrants have already faced and continue to suffer under the humanitarian crisis you have created,” wrote Lightfoot in the letter. “But I beseech you anyway: treat these individuals with the respect and dignity that they deserve. To tell them to go to Chicago or to inhumanely bus them here is an inviable and misleading choice.”

May 1, 2023

Abbott responded to Lightfoot’s letter saying that he would not stop.

“As the mayor of a self-declared sanctuary city, it is ironic to hear you complain about Chicago’s struggle to deal with a few thousand illegal immigrants, which is a fraction of the record-high numbers we deal with in Texas on a regular basis,” Abbott said in the letter. “If you truly want to “work together to find a real solution” to this border crisis gripping our nation, you must call on the Biden Administration to do its job by securing our border.”

May 26, 2023 

Chicago city officials said that the number of migrants who arrived in Chicago since the beginning of Operation Lone Star had reached 10,000. Over half of those migrants had been bused into the city from Texas, while others were flown in or arrived on their own from other states, including Texas.  

Migrants began to land at police stations across the city because the city had no more shelter space available. Hundreds more settled at O’Hare and Midway while waiting for shelter space. Over the summer months, thousands more arrived, making police stations their temporary home. They relied on volunteers for food, medicine and other necessities. 

“We were the first to open our doors to the migrants and they’re still coming. And we have not turned them away,” Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said in October. “But what we need are other people to step up in these situations because the burden has been on the police department to house people.”

By the end of August, one year after the first bus arrived, the number of migrants in Chicago totaled over 13,000. 

October 18, 2023

Rep. Jonathan Jackson from Illinois called for a federal investigation into Operation Lone Star. In a letter, he alleged that Abbott’s busing program amounted to human smuggling. He also added that Illinois had spent over $300 million to shelter and feed migrants in Chicago.

“The migrant crisis in Chicago—and other Democratic-led sanctuary cities—is a man-made crisis manufactured by the illegal actions of Governor Abbott,” Jackson said in the letter.

January 12, 2024

Gov. Pritzker sent a letter to Abbott urging him to stop sending migrants to Chicago due to intense weather conditions. 

“Please, while winter is threatening vulnerable people’s lives, suspend your transports and do not send more people to our state,” Pritzker asked. “We are asking you to help prevent additional deaths.”

The governor sent the letter directly to Abott and it was also published in a full-page ad in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. 

“Governor Pritzker was all too proud to call Illinois ‘the most welcoming state in the nation’ until Governor Abbott began transporting migrants to Chicago,” a spokesperson for Abbott told the American-Statesman. 

At the time of the letter’s publication, over 30,000 migrants had been sent to Chicago from Texas. 

At the time of writing, buses of migrants are still arriving in Chicago. 

Header by Matthew Warakomski