North Cook News

Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson called out Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for shuttling off busloads of immigrants who entered the country without legal permission from Nicaragua to Elk Grove Village.

Johnson laid out the timeline of events prior to a busload of Nicaraguans being dropped in his village.

Johnson said he stopped the bus carrying 90 people from coming in at first pending information on background checks and health checks.

“About 1:30 on Friday, we receive calls from a young lady named Jennifer from the governor's office trying to reach out to us,” Johnson said in a chronological retelling of events on Chicago’s Morning Answer.

“Finally made connection around 2. And we were told that there's going to be a busload of migrants coming to Elk Grove. So, of course, we asked how many? 'We don't know.' Where are they going? 'We don't know.' What time they're going to get there? 'We don't know.’"

“So we said, well, it would be helpful if we had this information because we've got some questions we want to address just for the community's safety and well-being. And that is one. What kind of background checks have been done for security with them? And what kind of health screenings? Because I understand the federal government deemed it to be legal, which is out of my purview and I have to accept that. And being legal, there's limited things we can do. But I am sworn to protect the health, and safety as well for my community, and those questions answered so that I can rest assured my community that they're fine to be here.”

“About 5 p.m., we still hadn't gotten any answers. And so I pretty much said talking to the state people again there. Well, once the bus arrives, whatever time it is, our police officer will be there. We will stop the people from deporting the bus. They have to stay on the bus. We'll give them water. In fact, there's a McDonald's crossing. I said, I will personally go buy meals. We'll feed them until I get those questions answered. I just want to know the safety, background and the health background, I can't let them in my community. I've got to protect my community and protect everyone involved.”

“Well, about quarter 6 – ten to 6 – I get another call back saying two things. One, they're going to keep them in Chicago for the night at the county health city area. And two, they're going to have a conference call for me at about 7:30 p.m. Friday night with people from the federal government, Homeland Security, FEMA, other officials, and Alicia (Tate-Nadeau), who's the head of Illinois Homeland Security. At 7:30 p.m., to their credit, they gave me all the time and very thorough, full knowledge of the screening. They go through a biometric security screening, very intense, very deep and also health screenings where they check for monkeypox, COVID and other ailments that they hear about in El Paso.”

“Then when they arrived in Chicago, they go through a second health screening to propose public health that alleviates our concerns as far as those subjects go. So we said, okay, we're fine for them to come back and go to the hotel.”

“And those issues no longer exist for us. We feel confident that the safety of this community is well protected. And so and again, I know all the other personal things going on, the battles all that, I do think this they know these are human beings. These are people. These are you know, we got to treat them with dignity. And since they're technically legally allowed to be here based on the president's order, you know, they actually have a right to be here. So with those assurances passed, they came in on Saturday morning.”

“Now, we're told originally there's going to be families and young children and all that, which I'm a grandfather with the Ninth Ward now, the way I care very much about children. But when they did arrive, it was not children. We saw nothing but single males between the 20s and 30s, a few single females and one pregnant woman, was all we saw."

“I know a lot of people worried about kids there and all that. There were no kids brought in there that we saw. So people want to share that. But my concern still on Saturday was what's going to continue to happen? No one's reaching out to us. No one's talking to us.

“I was quite upset with the mayor because it was city busses, Chicago busses. They did not come from Texas. Like (Lightfoot) originally said, if you're upset go to Gov. Abbott. Gov. Abbott has no clue where Elk Grove Village is. He has no clue which exists unless it was the Bahamas Bill. So that obviously did not happen. Then I was told, because I did ask very bluntly, I said, folks, you have a city of 3 million people, third largest city in the country, world destination. More hotels on one block than Elk Grove has in its entire community. Why aren't they staying there? True story I was told. Well, they have a marathon coming up. They have no room in the inn.”

Johnson addressed the issue over the weekend in a video clip.

“So we started doing some homework. The State of Texas has no clue Elk Grove Village is. They were not going to Elk Grove Village, they were going to the City of Chicago. She wants to proudly say, politically, 'I'm a sanctuary city. I welcome you open arms.' But when reality checks and five busload shows up in her city. She can't handle them. So that gives them Elk Grove Village. That's wrong,” Johnson said.

The busload was delivered to the La Quinta hotel on Saturday, where they will remain "indefinitely."

Johnson remarked The illegal immigrants were being bused from the border by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to Illinois, a "Sanctuary State" that chooses not to follow federal immigration law and has committed tax monies to pay for their housing and board, according to Governor J.B. Pritzker's office yesterday.

Other sanctuary cities, such as New York City and Washington, D.C., each of which has taken in around 8,000 illegal immigrants, are also receiving busloads of illegal immigrants from Texas.

The busing, according to Abbott, is a response to President Joe Biden's position on "open borders," which has led to a significant influx of illegal immigrants crossing because of lax federal enforcement.