NYC and Chicago mayors pen letter asking Gov. Polis to stop bussing migrants to their cities
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- New York City Mayor Eric Adams has called out fellow Democrat, Colorado Governor Jared Polis before. Now, in a new letter co-authored with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, he's criticizing Polis again for bussing migrants to New York City and Chicago.
"We respectfully demand that you cease and desist sending migrants to New York City and Chicago," the two mayors wrote in the letter addressed to Polis. They added that since December, both cities have received hundreds of migrants from Colorado, and accuse Polis of ignoring their previous requests to not send any more people their way.
Polis announced Tuesday that the state would begin bussing migrants from Denver to New York City and Chicago, locations he said the migrants had stated they wanted to be.
"Before the first bus arrived in either of our cities, we informed a Colorado official directly that neither city had any additional room to accommodate any more migrants because of the thousands of migrants that had already been inhumanely bused to our respective cities from Texas since spring of 2022.
Despite this information, you have bused migrants to our cities. The buses have arrived, without any regard to either city’s ability to appropriately shelter them,” the letter states.
Earlier in the week, the Colorado governor said he wanted to respect the wishes of the migrants and treat them with dignity. Polis claims that the state is just sending people to their desired locations, but said Saturday that the state will stop the bussing to Chicago and New York City this weekend. Both mayors and Polis blamed inaction on the part of the federal government for immigration reform and border security issues
After the letter was shared with the public, a spokesperson for Polis' office says that Polis had a call Saturday with Lightfoot and Adams. In that call, the spokesperson says the three Democrats had a 'productive conversation' and that there are no more busses scheduled for migrants from Denver to Chicago, and the last chartered bus to New York City will arrive tomorrow.
The governor's office blamed nationwide travel issues for the increased bussing of migrants out of Colorado.
In response to the letter, Polis issued a statement saying, “People fleeing violence and oppression in search of a better life for themselves and their families deserve our respect not political games and we are grateful we have been able to assist migrants to reach their final destination. We refuse to keep people against their will if they desire to travel elsewhere. While the federal government and Congress, unfortunately, have failed the American people on immigration reform and border security, Colorado continues to assure culturally competent and humane support to help assist migrants escaping oppression.
KRDO has reached out to Polis' office for confirmation of how many migrants the state has sent to Chicago and New York City.
