Migrants were flown to Chicago from Texas on a private plane Tuesday night, according to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said a private plane chartered by the Texas Department of Emergency Management landed at O’Hare International Airport around 7:15 p.m., and dropped off about 100 asylum seekers at Signature Flight.
A spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said there were more than 120 passengers on the plane.
Because the flight arrived without warning from Texas, airport officials called police when it landed. The mayor’s office said two unidentified people who flew with the migrants fled the Signature Flight office at O’Hare in an Uber before police arrived.
The flight originated in El Paso, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Abbott’s office blamed Chicago’s crackdown on buses that have been bringing migrants to Chicago without following the city’s rules.
Earlier this month, the City Council approved tougher penalties for what the Johnson administration has described as “rogue bus operators,” for violations such as failing to notify the city within the proper timeframe, and not dropping off migrants at designated locations.
Violators are subject to fines of up to $3,000, and buses that violate Chicago’s rules could be impounded.
That crackdown prompted Abbott to start sending migrants to Chicago by plane, and his office promised more are coming.
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