On Thursday, a Fox News panel tore into Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for calling Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas “racist” after he sent buses of illegal immigrants to Chicago, which calls itself a sanctuary city.
“These people do it voluntarily, they sign up for it, they get on a bus. The federal government has been sending them out on airplanes, so why isn’t that racist?” former Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah said. “Far more people have gone on airplanes to New York and other places. I think it’s an absolutely absurd assertion and if you want to solve the problem they’d go down to the southern border and see it for yourself and fix it.”
“Gov. Abbott has said enough is enough. But this is not just his problem, it’s already cost him $12 million to send these migrants on these buses,” Fox Business host Cheryl Casone said. “It’s not like he’s just doing it because he is a racist or he’s doing it out of spite. He’s putting his money where his mouth is for the taxpayers of Texas because Texas has had it. They are overrun.”
Some of the other hosts called out Lightfoot for accusing Abbott of racism in a statement that was released on the Twitter account of her deputy director of communications, Ryan Johnson.
“Obviously they are concerned because it’s the easiest cop-out when you disagree with something to call someone a racist,” Dr. Nicole Saphier said. “You say it with such conviction like that it’s a fact even though it is not true at all. Unfortunately, you have Democrats who just completely weaponized the term racism. They are diluting the severity of what it actually is.”
“When you talk about taking migrants to these other cities, that is basic logistics because these border towns, they do not have the infrastructure to support a rapid influx of people,” Saphier said. “Why shouldn’t these Democratic cities who say they’re sanctuary cities and say they welcome migrants, why shouldn’t they help bear the burden? This is not racism, this is basic economics.”
Lightfoot later posted a tweet on her own account, doubling down on her attacks on Abbott, accusing him of “racism, disinformation & human cruelty.”
Chicago has styled itself as a sanctuary city since 2012 when it passed the Welcoming City Ordinance that states Chicago police officers cannot arrest individuals on the basis of immigration status alone.
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