Lightfoot asks Chicago residents to pitch in to help migrants arriving from Texas

Chicago welcomed around 50 additional undocumented migrants that were sent from Texas by Governor Greg Abbott, prompting the city to ask residents to help support the new arrivals. 

“We’re a welcoming city so we’re always gonna step up and do the right thing to make sure that migrants who are coming here to our city are well received,” Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot announced the launch of a website to allow residents to donate supplies and money to help with the influx of migrants or volunteer. 

The group of migrants arrived in the city at around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a news conference.

The migrants will join the 79 undocumented migrants that arrived in the city last Wednesday after Abbott called on Mayor Lightfoot to keep her word and welcome all individuals regardless of their immigration status. 

“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," Abbott said in a statement last week. 

Abbott has already sent more than 7,000 undocumented migrants to Washington, D.C. since April and over 900 migrants to New York City since August 5 in an effort to push back against the nation’s immigration policies, according to a press release from the governor’s office. 

On Sunday, Mayor Lightfoot criticized Abbot for “manufacturing a human crisis” by sending migrants to other cities without proper preparation. 

“He tries to send human beings, not cargo, not freight, but human beings across the country to an uncertain destination,” Lightfoot said. “He is manufacturing a human crisis and it makes no sense to me.”

“We have yet to hear from anybody in an official capacity from Texas; that’s unacceptable. We’re talking about human beings’ lives who have themselves gone through an incredible journey just to get to the United States,” Lightfoot added.

Lightfoot has said that Chicago will collaborate with state and county officials, as well as several nonprofit organizations to care for the immigrants.