BURR RIDGE, Ill. — WGN Investigates has learned several dozen of the migrants Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent to Chicago have now been relocated to a hotel in the suburbs without advance warning to the local mayor.
“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?”
Just days ago, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blasted Abbott for treating the migrants like “cargo” and not providing her with advance notice they were arriving.
“My frustration comes from the actions of the governor of Texas,” Lightfoot said Sunday, when the first bus load of 50 migrants arrived. “There could be a level of coordination and cooperation, but he 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.”
On Wednesday, a group of 75 more migrants arrived in Chicago from Texas.
Democratic politicians including Lightfoot, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have vowed to welcome the migrants and provide a full range of services to meet their immediate needs.
Chicago is a so-called sanctuary city and so is Cook County. Local officials have passed laws meant to protect immigrants from deportation. However, the portion of Burr Ridge where many of the migrants are staying is actually in DuPage County.
While campaigning for Congress, Grasso said he would work to secure the border and “defund sanctuary cities.” However, Grasso noted his village board had not taken a position on sanctuary cities.
Grasso said he only became aware of the migrants’ arrival in his village after residents began alerting village officials.
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-welcomes-texas-migrants-then-sends-them-to-burr-ridge/
