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Mayor Lightfoot, Gov. Abbott Spar Over Bussing More Migrants to Chicago

More than 8,000 men, women and children have arrived in Chicago from the Southern border since Gov. Abbott's busing program began in August, Lightfoot said

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The war of words between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot continued on Monday.

Abbott responded to Sunday's letter from Lightfoot, in which she pleaded for him to stop sending migrants who cross the Southern border to Chicago.

The letter from Lightfoot was the latest communication in a months-long political standoff about where the migrants belong as they begin their long, complicated journey through the American legal and asylum system.

"We simply have no more shelters, spaces or resources to accommodate an increase in individuals at this level, with little coordination or care that does not pose a risk to them or others," Lightfoot wrote. "I know by your actions that you either do not see or do not care about the trauma these migrants have already faced under the humanitarian crisis you created."

She also wrote that more than 8,000 men, women and children have arrived in Chicago from the Southern border since Gov. Abbott's busing program began in August. She also said that some were women in active labor and some were victims of sexual assault.

However, Abbott insists Lightfoot should take up the situation with the Biden administration.

"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, repelling the illegal immigrants flooding into our communities, classifying the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and intercepting the deadly fentanyl that is endangering our country," Gov. Abbott wrote to Lightfoot in a letter on Monday.

Some of the migrants have slept at Chicago police stations and at O'Hare Airport as they wait for more stable housing.

"I'm not really asking for anything, only that we be given to work if possible," said a recent Venezuelan migrant on Sunday in Chicago through an interpreter. "[We want] to give our knowledge because immigration has been seen negatively, and there are those of us here with a lot of talent to offer."

The City of Chicago has opened up Wadsworth Elementary in the Woodlawn neighborhood, which closed years ago, to temporarily house hundreds of migrants. The city said on Sunday it was at capacity.

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