In a better world, governors would cooperate with one another. And not just the ones from their own party.
Such is not the case with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The governors traded barbs late this week – all prompted by Abbott’s decision to bus migrants to Chicago, a “sanctuary city.”
Already, Abbott has sent thousands of migrants to New York City and Washington, D.C., and now he’s broadening out his scheme. The latest buses arrived in Chicago on Friday.
The Texas Republican blames the country’s immigration problem on President Biden, and the buses are apparently aimed at getting Democratic leaders to put pressure on the White House.
The Chicago Tribune editorial board rightly called this an “act of political theater and unconscionable immaturity.”
Meanwhile, Iowa news reports said that CNN obtained a document that listed other places Abbott might send migrants. Iowa City was on that list.
Local and state officials here downplayed the idea buses would be rolling in, though. And several media outlets reported that Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office confirmed a week ago that no migrants would be going to Iowa City.
I’m not surprised. Abbott isn’t going to send buses to a state run by a fellow Republican. Especially not first-in-the-nation Iowa. He’s a potential 2024 presidential candidate, after all.
However, blue Illinois is a target, and officials there were in a back and forth with Abbott’s office over the situation.
Pritzker said the migrants are being treated like “cattle.” Abbott’s office essentially said, if you don’t like it call the president.
To be clear, the migrants are being welcomed and provided for in Illinois. That’s a good thing. But in a better world, they wouldn’t just be dropped off at a bus station with no real coordination or support. (Incidentally, a small number of the people sent to Chicago are now staying in a hotel in suburban Burr Ridge, where city officials there say they were not notified. However, they said they, too, are committed to helping the migrants temporarily.)
Frankly, the welcoming attitude being expressed in Illinois should spread across the country. Texas and other border states are experiencing significant problems because of these border crossings, and the burden shouldn’t just fall on them. Other states should help them, too.
Last year, Reynolds sent state troopers to Texas to aid interdiction efforts. But it was at the behest of Republican governors instead of the federal government, which has responsibility for the border.
If Iowa’s political leaders were truly interested in helping, rather than politicizing this issue, they’d step up and offer to take in some of the migrants to lessen the burden on border states.
I’m not naïve. I know this won’t happen. A year ago, Reynolds blithely refused to help shelter migrants, infamously saying “this is not our problem. This is the president’s problem.”
But in a better world, wouldn’t it be “our problem” too?
It wouldn’t be just Joe Biden’s problem or Greg Abbott’s problem.
It would be our problem, as Americans.
What’s the alternative? I suppose if Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wanted, she could say Republican gun policies are to blame for all the shootings in this country. She could take people being held in Chicago jails on gun charges and give them a one-way bus ticket to Texas.
We’ll drop the charges if you stay there a year. Deal?
Ridiculous? Of course, it is. But in the realm of performance politics these days, there really is no limit.
Frankly, I prefer the example shown by Iowa City Catholic Worker. The organization faulted Abbott, but more importantly made clear it stood ready to help with food, shelter and protection.
In Chicago, meanwhile, the head of the Catholic archdiocese there, Cardinal Blase Cupich, said, “Welcoming the stranger, including the immigrant, is a fundamental moral imperative of Christianity.”
Cupich acknowledged border states are bearing the brunt of supporting migrants and added “the issue would be better addressed by a strategy of national cooperation.”
He's right.
We should all be willing to help, and not just when it suits our politics.
The City of Chicago has set up a website that is asking for volunteers and publicizing the location of donation spots. World Relief Chicagoland also is helping coordinate support.
We Iowans should look for ways to help. Even if our politicians won’t be “Iowa Nice,” we can.
In other news:
· I’ve previously written about the proposed Canadian Pacific/Kansas City Southern railroad merger and efforts in the Quad-Cities to derail the plan. Well now, the federal Surface Transportation Board has extended the public comment period from Sept. 26 to Oct. 14. The STB, which is studying whether to approve the merger, said it was extending the deadline “in response to a request from affected communities for additional time to provide comments.” Some of that response has come from the Quad-Cities. A public hearing hosted by the STB is still scheduled for Sept. 13. It will be at the RiverCenter in Davenport.
· Meanwhile, KWQC-TV reports that the City of LeClaire has agreed to a $750,000 deal with Canadian Pacific. It’s the latest city to come to terms with the railroads to mitigate the effects of additional train traffic. (In the Quad-Cities, it’s expected train traffic will triple.) A number of other cities have already agreed to take cash payments in exchange for not opposing the proposed merger.
· Scott County Supervisor Ken Croken is hosting a town hall meeting on Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Scott County Library in Eldridge to talk about the county’s solar energy policy. The county board has already passed two readings of a measure that prohibits commercial-sized solar farms on highly productive farm land. Industry officials and solar advocates say the measure would essentially prohibit commercial solar arrays in the county. Croken, a Democrat, is the only board member who has opposed the measure. Republicans Ken Beck, Tony Knobbe and John Maxwell have voted in favor, and so has Democrat Brinson Kinzer.
· After years of waiting, Viking River Cruises landed in the Quad-Cities this week. The five-deck Viking Mississippi docked to much fanfare, as you can see from a City of Davenport video that is posted here. We’re used to seeing cruise ships dock along the Mississippi River here, but tourism and economic development officials in the Quad-Cities have been anticipating this day for years, hoping that it will lead to an increase in economic development along the riverfront and throughout the area.
Quotable! What’s the alternative? I suppose if Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wanted, she could say Republican gun policies are to blame for all the shootings in this country. She could take people being held in Chicago jails on gun charges and give them a one-way bus ticket to Texas.
Thanks, Ed. So gov kim no longer professes to be Christian? 🤔 the Chicago Priest is correct. People wanting to be Christ-like must welcome the strangers. Or in another way, What would Bob Ray do? He showed Iowa nice in welcoming refugees from SE Asia. And Iowa could use the workers. Ask Storm Lake. Ask Jefferson, and I would hope Ask Muscatine (I hope) who led the way in the 1960s to welcome the migrant farm workers.
Also Steve and I will be on the Viking Mississippi when it returns to Davenport on Tuesday. Is that RR hearing during the day? 😉