(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker addressed reporters in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday after a plea to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to halt the transport of migrants to Chicago.
Pritzker said he sent a letter to Abbott Friday, in which he asked him to stop sending migrants to Chicago from the southern border amid subzero temperatures in the region.
In the letter, Pritzker pleaded "for mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves."
He said Abbott rejected the call for a pause and promised to continue the transport of migrants despite the dangerous weather.
"It's dangerous," Pritzker said. "It's dangerous to send a bus load of migrants — who don't have jackets, who don't have proper shoes — to a climate that we're in right now."
The Democrat governor said Abbott's decision "tells you everything you need to know about the Republican party, their position on migration and immigration" and the governor himself.
Back in Illinois, Prtizker said he's regularly meeting with Chicago officials — a response to recent claims that there's a lack of coordination in communication between the state and Chicago.
"Every day, my staff, the mayor's staff, and the Cook County board president's staff are meeting to determine what's needed that day, what more can we do," he said. "There is quite a lot of coordination and a lot of dollars that are being put to good use to create shelter beds and make sure we're taking good care of migrants who arrive."
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