Chicago-Bound Illegal Immigrants Dropped Off at Secret Locations so Busses Can Avoid Penalties

Illegal immigrants arrive in Philadelphia, Pa., early on Dec. 16, 2022. They were part of two buses from Texas. The Lone Star State has transported thousands of illegal immigrants immigrants to other so-called sanctuary cities that include Washington, New York City, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. Ryan Collerd/AFP via Getty Images

Bus drivers who are shuttling illegal immigrants from the United States southern border to Chicago are dropping them off in undisclosed locations to avoid costly fines and the potential seizure of their vehicles.

The new regulations meant to stem the flow of illegal immigrants being transported into the city have only resulted in more disorder as drivers have been bypassing the previously used drop-off points designated by officials and instead are releasing passengers at various locations throughout the broader Chicago area.

Further, the drivers have cut off communication with city agencies, according to the mayor’s office.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said that by sending illegal immigrants from the border to sanctuary cities like Chicago, that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is waging war on America.

“The issue is not just how we respond in the city of Chicago, it is the fact that we have a governor…an elected official in the state of Texas who is placing families on busses without shoes, cold, wet, tired, hungry, afraid, traumatized, and they come to the city of Chicago where we have homelessness,” Mr. Johnson told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.

“The governor of Texas needs to take a look in the mirror of the chaos he is causing for this country.

“This is not just a Chicago dynamic. He is attacking our country,” added Mr. Johnson.

Officials claim that the bus drivers and companies that employ them are sowing chaos by finding loopholes in the city’s growing list of regulations meant to ensure order.

“Obviously, they’re trying every way to work around this,” Cristina Pacione-Zayas, deputy chief of staff to the mayor, told the Chicago Tribune.

“Since we’ve instituted the ordinance and the amendment, we have lost all communication with the border. They’re not sending us any notices. ... When they come without notice and coordination, it starts to undermine what we’re trying to do.”

However, the lack of coordination between out-of-state drivers and city officials can be attributed to measures approved by city legislators earlier this month that impose stiff penalties on drivers for releasing illegal immigrants into the city, according to a Texas-based transit worker.

An employee who answered the phone at a Texas-based bus company that is routinely contracted to transport illegal immigrants told The Epoch Times that the new enforcement measure put drivers in an “awful situation.”

The worker, who refused to give his name, added that drivers for the company are “just trying to do their jobs and follow the law, but everything changes [with the law] every minute, so drivers don’t really know what they can or can’t do.”

Violations of the law come with severe repercussions.

Under the revised rules that went into effect last month, buses face the potential of “seizure and impoundment” if caught unloading passengers outside of city-approved locations.

Violators can also be levied with $3,000 fines, plus towing and storage fees.

Further, the new regulations require drop-offs to occur on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. while limiting bus arrivals to two per hour, with drivers permitted to unload passengers only at designated drop-off points.

Several bus owners accused of breaking the new rules have already received notices to appear in court to receive fines, according to officials.

Last week, the city impounded a bus from Texas that was attempting to release 49 migrants at one of the city’s designated landing zones.

Now Flights from Texas

Mr. Abbott, the Texas governor, escalated his response to the border crisis on Tuesday, resorting to flights after Chicago impounded the bus sent by Texas to drop off illegal immigrants.

This marks the first time the Lone Star State has used a plane to transport illegal immigrants out of the state to liberal sanctuary jurisdictions.

Andrew Mahaleris, Mr. Abbott’s spokesman, said Texas transported more than 120 migrants from El Paso to Chicago on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr. Mahaleris shared news of the flight on social media, noting it was a response to the Chicago “failing to live up to his city’s ‘Welcoming City’ ordinance by targeting migrant buses from Texas.”

Immigrants line up as they wait for a bus to Chicago at the NGO Mission Border Hope's complex to transport them out of Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 26, 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Sanctuary City Status

Chicago has maintained its status as a sanctuary city since 1985, when former Mayor Harold Washington issued an executive order.

The order became law in 2006 when city officials were directed not to ask about immigration status, disclose that information to federal authorities, or deny city services depending on citizenship status.

Today, Chicago is enduring a mass influx of illegal immigrants. More than 460 buses have arrived with illegal immigrants in the city since May, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The illegal immigrants have added further strain to the city’s already stressed housing situation.

An estimated 68,440 homeless Americans are living on the streets of Chicago, according to the most recent data from 2021—and in the past two years, that number has grown, according to the Chicago Coalition of the Homeless.

The thousands of new arrivals have filled up the city’s homeless shelters, with countless more sleeping on police station floors and staying at airports. To combat the problem, Mr. Johnson recently announced that the city will allocate $150 million from the recent budget to sheltering illegal immigrants.

Pastor Corey Brooks, executive director of Project H.O.O.D, a Chicago-based nonprofit seeking to end violence through individual empowerment, told The Epoch Times that the city needs to reprioritize how it spends its limited resources and place its focus back on its own citizens.

“A lot of people are feeling like when we voice concerns about violence and economic issues, these city officials tell us there is no money available, but now that the migrants are here, they are finding millions and millions of dollars,” Mr. Brooks told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview.

“It’s a slap in the face.”

With additional reporting by Caden Pearson.