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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot cast doubt on Gov. Greg Abbott’s Christian faith in remarks denouncing the Texas Republican busing migrants from the southern border up to the Windy City.
"He professes to be a Christian," Lightfoot said at a press conference on Sunday. "This is not the Christianity and the teachings of the Bible that I know. And I think religious leaders all across the country are standing up and denouncing exactly this."
Lightfoot held a press conference after about 50 more migrants bused from Texas reached Chicago over Labor Day weekend. Abbott has been sending buses of migrants to liberal cities such as Washington, D.C., and New York City since April.
"President Biden's inaction at our southern border continues putting the lives of Texans — and Americans — at risk and is overwhelming our communities," Abbott said last week when announcing the first buses of migrants reached Chicago.
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT LASHES OUT AT TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT AFTER 50 MORE MIGRANTS ARE BUSSED TO CHICAGO
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot / Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images // Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"To continue providing much-needed relief to our small, overrun border towns, Chicago will join fellow sanctuary cities Washington, D.C. and New York City as an additional drop-off location. Mayor Lightfoot loves to tout the responsibility of her city to welcome all regardless of legal status, and I look forward to seeing this responsibility in action as these migrants receive resources from a sanctuary city with the capacity to serve them."
Abbott's office told Fox News Digital later Monday that "attacking the Governor’s commitment to his faith is a pathetic political ploy to change the conversation away from Mayor Lightfoot’s unwillingness to uphold her city’s self-declared sanctuary status."
"Where was Mayor Lightfoot’s outrage and condemnation of President Biden as he flew planeloads of migrants across the country and dropped them in communities in the cover of night?" Abbott press secretary Renae Eze continued in the statement Monday. "Instead of lowly personal attacks on the Governor and complaining about a few dozen migrants being bused into her sanctuary city, Mayor Lightfoot should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border—something the President continues failing to do."
Lightfoot has slammed the decision to bus migrants as "racist" and added in her remarks Sunday that the policy was "unpatriotic."
"I think it's decidedly unpatriotic and un-American," she said. "I understand the pressures that the people of Texas and some of the other border states are under. We see that on a daily basis. But the thing to do is not this. This is creating a human crisis. And treating people without dignity, without respect, it's not who we are as Americans."
Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduces Jazmine Sullivan during 2022 Lollapalooza day one at Grant Park on July 28, 2022, in Chicago. (Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
Lightfoot’s remarks echo those of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who said the busing of migrants at Abbott’s direction to New York is "horrific."
The Center for Immigration Studies published a report in June finding the "foreign-born population" in the U.S. had increased by more than 2 million since President Biden took office. In May alone, the number of migrant encounters at the southern border hit a new record at 239,416 encounters.
Conservative leaders in border states and across the country have slammed Biden for his immigration policies, including ending the Trump administration’s "Remain in Mexico" policy, announcing an ultimately-failed plan to offer citizenship to 11 million illegal immigrants at the start of his presidential tenure, loosening border enforcement policies, among other issues.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas on June 8, 2021 (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Abbott’s office has previously directed Democratic leaders of cities where the migrants are being bused to take the issue up with the president and secure the border.
"What’s horrific is the thousands of illegal immigrants overrunning and overwhelming our border communities with populations smaller than a New York City borough, and Mayor Adams is hypocritically upset about welcoming a few dozen into his sanctuary city," Abbott press secretary Renae Eze told Fox News Digital last month.
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"If the mayor wants a solution to this crisis, he should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border—something the President continues failing to do," she added.
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