Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) is asking President Joe Biden for more federal support to deal with immigrants being bused from the southern border to the Prairie State.
Pritzker, in a letter on Monday, said his state has had 15,000 people "shipped" to his state from border states and needs more aid from the federal government to deal with the influx of people.
DEMOCRACY DERBY: HOW THE KENTUCKY GOVERNOR'S RACE COULD SERVE AS A SPRINGBOARD INTO 2028
"But as the numbers being transported to Chicago are accelerating, the humanitarian crisis is overwhelming our ability to provide aid to the refugee population. Unfortunately, the welcome and aid Illinois has been providing to these asylum seekers has not been matched with support by the federal government. Most critically, the federal government's lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois," Pritzker wrote.
Pritzker also decried his state being "targeted with busloads of asylum seekers by the border politicians" and called on Biden and the federal government to "take a much more active role" in the issue.
"For my state which has been targeted with busloads of asylum seekers by the border politicians seeking to increase the partisan divide, this crisis has strained the already stretched human services network we have attempted to rebuild in our recovery from the pandemic," he wrote.
The Illinois governor urged the Biden administration to take "a much more active role in managing the transport and destination of the transport of asylum seekers."
He added, "Our nation is large and resourceful. Allowing just one state to lay the burden upon a certain few states run by Democrats is untenable."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Pritzker outlines several specific demands in the letter, including waving fees for temporary protected status applications, "significant increases" in data collection and coordination, accelerating the timetable for employment authorization for immigrants, financial support to state and local governments for "housing, food, and social services," along with approving the state's "requests for Medicaid waivers, housing vouchers, and federal coordination and support."
Texas has been the leader in sending immigrants to Democratic-run jurisdictions, with Gov. Greg Abbott's (R-TX) Operation Lone Star claiming to have sent more than 10,700 immigrants to Chicago since August 2022. Abbott maintains that the immigrants traveling to Democratic states are doing so voluntarily.