This site has reported at various times about the “hot potato” game northern cities and states have been playing with unwanted illegal migrants shipped up from Texas, sending them on to here, there, and everywhere else, to avoid the embarassment of admitting they were never serious about all that “sanctuary” hokum if it meant actually having to take the freeloaders in.
Now, a new variant of the game has apparently made the scene; call it Migrant Dodge Ball. It’s a losing effort on the part of the leftist governments of sanctuary cities like NYC and Chicago to dodge incoming new migrants in the first place.
In NYC, embattled mayor Eric Adams thought he had hit upon something when he “cracked down” on incoming buses from Texas, threatening to arrest drivers who disobeyed his orders restricting passenger drop-offs. All that did was cause the drivers to deliver their passengers in New Jersey, a hop-and-skip from the Big Apple. Curses, foiled again.
Over in the second city, Chicago, similarly beset mayor Brandon Johnson has tried similar measures to cut back on the busing, such as impounding migrant-filled buses. The only effect that is having is to increase the newcomers coming in by air and coming into Rockford, 80 miles away. On New Year’s Eve, Johnson took to X.com to complain:
This morning just after 1 a.m., a private Boeing 777 originating from San Antonio, Texas landed at the Rockford/Chicago airport carrying 350 asylum seekers. There was no communication from Texas, and the City of Chicago was alerted by authorities in Rockford regarding the flight.
Upon landing, asylum seekers were placed on buses chartered by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and dropped in various surrounding suburbs, left to find their way to the city. This is the second recorded instance of the Texas governor transporting asylum seekers via private plane.
Dodge ball score: Texas, 2; Sanctuaries, 0.