Democratic mayors take a stand against welcoming immigrants in their cities

Democratic mayors are rebelling against the arrival in their cities of immigrants from the southern border. Eric Adams, mayor of New York, and Lori Lightfoot, outgoing mayor of Chicago, have complained about the redistribution of the immigration pressure that especially affects Texas. In statements made this Monday, Adams criticized that this distribution of migrants is an attack by the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, to "damage cities governed by blacks."

The mayor of New York played the racism card when he accused the Republican governor of redirecting immigrants to cities governed by black mayors. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Denver and Washington D.C. are the cities cited. Many of them stand out for their high crime rates and a Democratic government with little control over their streets. In April, for example, waves of young people took over the streets of downtown Chicago, without hardly any response from Lori Lightfoot.

Both Lightfoot and Adams claim that their cities do not have the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the number of immigrants arriving from the southern border. However, the state of Texas is the one that suffers the most immigration pressure, followed by California, and then Florida. Texas houses about three times the number of illegal immigrants counted in New York State. 16% compared to 5% of the national total.

For Adams, this is a deliberate attack that seeks to undermine the stability of cities with black mayors. "It is impossible to ignore the fact that Abbott is now targeting five cities led by Black mayors. Plainly stated, Abbott is using this crisis to hurt Black-governed cities," the New York mayor asserted in a Twitter post.

For his part, the Texas governor responded to Lori Lightfoot's statements in a public letter. Abbott argued in his letter that President Biden's immigration control policy is the cause of the immigration crisis. "You are correct that ‘this situation is completely untenable,’ but it is not a Texas problem. It's a problem for the entire United States of America," Abbott responded to Lightfoot.

This is not the first time that both Adams and Lightfoot have complained about the arrival of immigrants in their cities, despite their desire to position themselves as a safe haven for them. As early as January 2023, both mayors asked the state of Colorado to refrain from sending more immigrants in a joint letter.