A plane carrying hundreds of migrants from Texas arrived early Sunday at Rockford International Airport, the latest in a slew of migrants that have recently arrived by bus or plane to different parts of Illinois, including to Chicago, McHenry and Kankakee.
According to authorities, Rockford officials learned of the plane -- which was carrying 355 migrants -- on Saturday.
"As many people may know, the city of Chicago recently adopted an ordinance with certain requirements related to the arrival of migrants," the city of Rockford posted to Facebook. "As a result, the Governor of Texas has redirected buses and planes to other nearby cities."
Winnebago County officials told WREX that Winnebago County Sheriffs Deputies, along with Rockford police officers were at the airport during the arrival "to ensure the safety of all."
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
Once the plane landed in Rockford, migrants were "offloaded and immediately boarded buses," the city of Rockford said. Rockford officials initially indicated the buses would be directed to 'Chicago's landing zone,'" but later said those buses had been escorted by Winnebago County Sheriff's deputies to the McHenry County line.
A statement from a city of Chicago spokesperson said upon arrival, the migrants deplaned a private Boing 777 and boarded eight buses, charted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The statement went onto say that the buses had dropped passengers off "in various suburbs and they are making their way to the City via train and other means."
Local
As of 12 p.m., none of the buses had dropped passengers off at Chicago's designated landing zone, the statement added.
"This is the second recorded instance of the State of Texas transporting asylum-seekers using a private plane," the spokesperson said. The first instance was a flight carrying approximately 100 migrants that arrived to O'Hare International Airport Dec. 19.
Friday, McHenry County issued a statement saying it may facilitate transportation of migrants who arrive within its boundaries to the city of Chicago. The same day, McHenry City Council announced it would fine operators of so-called "rogue buses" who drop off migrants without notice and potentially impound their buses.
A number of suburban communities have seen buses drop off migrants from the southern border in recent weeks as buses try to circumvent policies recently implemented by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. In multiple instances, migrants were told they had arrived in Chicago -- despite being taken to cities at least 40 miles away.
A statement from a Metra spokesperson said that as of Dec. 27, approximately 40 buses transporting migrants had arrived at "various, outlying Metra stations" over the past several days, with no advance notice of arrival.
"Their fares were paid, and we transported them to downtown stations, where they disembarked and left Metra property," the statement continued. "Once downtown they are passed to the care of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) personnel."
The Metra spokesperson added that some migrants do get picked up by family or friends.
Several suburbs in the Chicago area, including Mattison, Aurora, Elburn and Chicago Ridge worked quickly in the past week in an effort to pass ordinances similar to that of McHenry County in hopes of combating unannounced drop-offs.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office did not immediately respond to NBC Chicago's request for comment.
