At Least 9 Migrants Drown Crossing Rio Grande; Texas Gov. Abbott Buses More to Chicago
HAVANA TIMES – In immigration news, at least nine asylum seekers drowned over the weekend as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande along the Texas-Mexico border. Thirty-seven others were rescued. The river is several feet higher than normal as the region has been hit by torrential rain in recent days. The tragedy has intensified calls for Congress and the Biden administration to enact policies that ensure a safe passage for asylum seekers, including an end to the Trump-era Title 42, which has blocked about 2 million asylum seekers from entering the United States to find refuge, forcing them to take dangerous routes into the country.
In related news, about 125 asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago on buses sent from Texas. On Sunday alone, the city welcomed some 50 asylum seekers, most of them families. Local officials are demanding that Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott collaborate on a more humane treatment of asylum seekers as Chicago calls on more volunteers to assist the arriving asylum seekers. For months Abbott has forcibly relocated hundreds of asylum seekers to so-called liberal cities, including New York and Washington, D.C.