Appearing on Face the Nation, Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson (Chicago, Illinois) and Democrat Mayor Mike Johnston (Denver, Colorado) discuss the ongoing challenges related to Texas Governor Greg Abbott not retaining all of the arriving illegal aliens in the state of Texas.
Johnson and Johnston both accuse Greg Abbott of sowing chaos in their city, as both mayors are forced to provide essential services and support to arriving illegal aliens in order to maintain the open border policies of the Biden administration. Video and Transcript Below:
It’s beyond progressively typical to see Brennan, Johnson and Johnston blame everyone except Joe Biden.
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: For more on how immigration is affecting communities across the U.S., we turn now to two Democratic mayors, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson and Denver’s Mike Johnston.
Gentlemen, welcome to Face the Nation.
BRANDON JOHNSON (D-Mayor of Chicago, Illinois): Good morning.
MIKE JOHNSTON (D-Mayor of Denver, Colorado): Thank you for having us.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Thanks for joining us.
And, Mr. Mayor of Chicago, I want to put to you a question about what seems to have developed overnight. There are reports of a plane from Texas landing in Chicago carrying more migrants that arrived around 1:00 a.m. I’m wondering if Texas officials gave you any heads-up. Who’s on the plane? What happens next?
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: Well, what we have is clearly, clearly an international and federal crisis that local governments are being asked to subsidize.
And this is unsustainable. None of our local economies are positioned to be able to carry on such a mission. And what we have attempted to do is to create structure and some coordination around this humanitarian crisis. And, unfortunately, the governor of Abbott – the governor of Texas, Governor Abbott, is determined to continue to sow seeds of chaos.
And last night and several nights before, a number of buses continue to arrive in the city of Chicago and throughout the country without any coordination. And now he’s taken on this very dangerous task of placing individuals on airplanes and flying them into our various cities. This is certainly a matter of – not just of our national security, but it’s the type of chaos that this governor is committed to administering.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor of Denver, to be clear here, I know that you have looked at New York and Chicago making decisions to restrict bus arrivals.
Are you trying to take measures in your city to restrict them from even arriving in the first place?
MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON: No, all we want is a system that is – that is humanitarian for both the new folks that are arriving and for our cities and our city employees.
And so we understand there will be an inflow. We have already had 35,000 migrants arrive to Denver. We have successfully helped them integrate into the country here. What we don’t want is people arriving at 2:00 in the morning at a city and county building with women and children outside in 10-degree weather and no support.
And so we want buses here to do whatever the bus does, which is land at a bus station and a bus stop and hours when we can have staff there to receive them and to direct them toward services. And so we understand the flow is coming. We just want it to be coordinated, and in a humanitarian way, which we think makes it effective for the city and for those newcomers.
So that means things like arriving 8:00 to 5:00 Monday to Friday with notice.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
And I understand that you haven’t been able to get the state of Texas to stop sending people. But when it comes to your party’s leadership, as Senator Graham said, you have asked the White House for more help. Did they respond to your public call?
MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON: Yes, we’ve talked to the White House. We’ve talked to leadership there. we think they agree on the core needs that we see.
I mean, we think this is a solvable problem. There are key priorities we need. We need federal dollars to help support our work here in the cities. We also need federal dollars for more support at the border, the ability to adjudicate asylum claims more quickly, so they can be done in 90 days, and not in four to six years.
That makes a massive difference. If we have the resources for cities to support us, if we have – when people arrive, we actually have work authorization when they get to a place like Denver, so we can put them to work, which is what they want, and we have a coordinated entry plan, where it’s not just the governor of Texas deciding what cities to send people to, but it’s actually the way we’ve welcomed asylees in this country for years.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.
MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON: When we had asylees from Afghanistan or Ukraine, we had federal support, we had coordinated entry, we had work authorization.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON: And those efforts worked quite smoothly. America knows how to do this. We think we can do it here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. Those are different programs for those refugees. But I hear your point on the work authorization.
Mayor Johnson of Chicago, did the White House give you what you need in your public call this week?
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: Well, look, I think there’s no secret here that we need comprehensive – comprehensive immigration – immigration reform.
This comprehensive immigration reform would certainly transform this situation. In fact, it solves this – this crisis. What we have said repeatedly is that we need Congress to act to provide the resources that are needed in order to – to carry out this mission.
But what we can’t have is a governor in the state of Texas acting the way he is acting. And, quite frankly, the rogue buses that are being dropped off across this country in the middle of the night, leaving people with – with no real support at all, no coordination with the local municipalities, that type of chaos is – it’s certainly dividing our country.
And we need better coordination between all levels of government to be able to respond to this mission.
MARGARET BRENNAN: When you reach out to the governor – I’m – I’m assuming you have – do you get any response?
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: Well, we sent an entire delegation to the border to see firsthand what’s happening at the border. I have actually spoken with leaders of the Mexican government.
They’re having the same challenges that we’re having here in America. And so there has to be a real coordinated effort to be able to respond to this crisis. Again, putting people on airplanes, and dropping them off in the city of Chicago and Denver, New York, without any coordination, without a manifest, I don’t know how many federal laws or aviation laws he can be violating.
But this type of chaos is not what’s needed in this moment. We need a coordinated effort between all levels of government to ensure that this humanitarian mission that’s an international crisis is met with the type of civility and sanctity that’s required.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood.
I mean, I checked the weather and both of your cities. It’s 32 degrees in Chicago. It’s 25 degrees in Denver. I’m guessing someone walking across from Mexico isn’t outfitted for that kind of frigid arrival.
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: Yes. That’s absolutely right.
(CROSSTALK)
MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON: We say that every day. We have folks arrive in T- shirts and sandals.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
It’s – I want to talk about this more, but I have to take a commercial break. So, if you would both stay with us. As we do that, I will be right back with you and be back with you all in a moment.
So, stay with us.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
We pick up where we left off with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Gentlemen, I do want to pick back up on one of the points you raised.
Mr. Johnston of Denver, the White House says it takes 30 days to process work permits and temporary protected status for – for some of these migrants. You’re saying you need people to arrive ready to work. What happens in that 30-day period? Why is that not fast enough?
MIKE JOHNSTON (Mayor of Denver): Yes, we were grateful for the government’s action, including the secretary’s action, to provide temporary protective status for Venezuelans who arrived before July 31st. We advocated for that. They made that change. That was a huge help.
The challenge now is Venezuelans who have arrived in the last several months are not eligible for that temporary protective status. They often don’t have a path to work authorization and they may have an asylum claim that is three or four or five years in the waiting until the claim is heard. And so the challenge on our city streets, we have folks that are here who whenever I talk to migrants, I was with them yesterday, they’ll just say, I only want one thing, which is the ability to work. And we have employers calling me every day saying, hey, mayor, I have open jobs, can I please hire these folks. But we have folks that right now are currently without a path to work authorization. We’d love to see that path to work authorization expand for more recent arrivals the same way the secretary of health did be possible for those who arrived before July 31st.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And that was done through – through federal authority through the administration. But changing the law would require Congress to – to alter some of these programs. I thought it was interesting, Mayor Johnson of Chicago, you also made the point that when it came to Afghanistan and Ukrainians, they arrived without a problem in your city and that you would like to replicate that program for everyone.
BRANDON JOHNSON (Mayor of Chicago): That’s exactly right. There are 30,000 Ukrainian refugees that are in the city of Chicago right now. The difference is, of course they were fully supported by the federal government and they were able to acclimate themselves and integrate into our economy. We have a number of asylum seekers from Central and South America and the continent of Africa, and the question is, why are we not providing that same support and treatment here?
Look, the bottom line is this, we need Congress to act. And we need them to do it expeditiously. But we cannot have the type of chaos that continues to come from the state of Texas. And, clearly, the governor of Texas, Governor Abbott, is certainly afraid and mad, but he can’t cut his own nose off, right? And so what we’re simply saying, and what I’ve done over a month ago, we provided an ordinance that would ultimately provide some structure and some coordination around when busses should arrive. Should not be dropping people off in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere without the type of support that’s needed.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
Very quickly, before I let you go, I read, Mayor Johnson of Chicago, less than two weeks ago a five-year-old boy died after falling ill at a migrant shelter in your city. What state are people showing up in, and what is the health risk here, if any?
BRANDON JOHNSON: Well, our condolences are still with the family, and we continue to pray for the – the – the family who lost their – their child. I’m a father of three. This is just an unimaginable pain.
But what is very clear is that not only are we providing mental health related services, as well as vaccinations and health screenings, and providing medical health care for these families when they arrive the moment, they get off those busses, we’re not seeing that same treatment at the border. In other words, there’s no health screenings, no vaccinations. That process at the border is absolutely raggedy and reckless, but we cannot have a governor who decides that he’s going to cling to the vestiges of Jefferson Davis when we should be pulling to the hopes and aspirations that were left by Frederick Douglas. We have to have a coordinated response to this humanitarian crisis. We cannot allow chaos to dictate and to divide this country.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will wait to hear from Governor Abbott’s office in response to that.
Mr. Mayors, thank you both for joining us.
We’ll be right back.
Virtue signalling has a price.
Enjoy!!!
You jack wagons back lawless government. I’d say your problems are self inflicted. Enjoy your diversity.
I don’t want these people here at all. I don’t care what the temperature is here in Denver. Every single one is a felon as soon as they cross over illegally. But, what I really want to know is: who is funding the busses from Texas?
The UN,,,with tax dollars “contributed” by US taxpayers.
Enjoy the invasion – YOU’RE paying for it.
I don’t know but God Bless them for exposing the hypocrisy of these liberal mayors.
May whoever is funding the buses from Texas to Chicago and Denver live long and prosper.
I read somewhere that Abbot has a relative who owns the bus company being used in Texas.
Don’t remember where I read it but I remember Adam’s saying he was going to impound the busses….
One has been impounded in Chicago.
Buffalo Bagels
NO, They should NOT
Pay attention please !
Are you my 2nd grade teacher?
You sound like her.
You’re the one who shouldn’t live long and prosper
We real Americans are paying with our tax dollars and increased costs of products and services.
THAT IS WHO IS PAYING FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR COUNTRY.
Texas taxpayers
Who cares who is funding these illegals being bussed out of the State of Texas. They’ve already paid way more than their fair share since 2021 when illegals showed up sporting Biden tee shirts at the border. If sanctuary cities openly and proudly state they want illegals, then they can all have them compliments of whoever pays the fares. And while they’re at it, stop complaining. Careful what you ask for!
Texas is paying for the buses to take them out of Texas, because it cost a great deal more to pay for the food, housing, medical care, schooling, and entertainment, for the rest of their lives. The bus cost is a one time expense.
.. and inclusion and equity – the full DIE meal deal.
These mayors were elected to serve US citizens. They are instead putting the needs of illegal invaders in front of their citizens. Shame on these selfish black mayors. IMO they are guilty of gross human rights violations of their citizens.
Let’s see if the voting patterns change from the citizens who are being replaced by these illegals immigrants.
They are serving Obama.
Happy new year, may God bless America and Israel
MAGA
AND
AMERICA FIRST
ISRAEL NEEDS TO FIX THEIR OWN PROBLEMS
Dear God
Israel is fixing their own problems
As SD says…people pretending not to know what we all know they know and deeper down they know many of us know it.
Communists decry self-created chaos.
🥱
Those a-holes endorsed it and they need it good and hard. If they had any character they’d be hammering BIDEN but they don’t. They should be cooked with the chickens they’d brought in for the roost.
The are MARXIST !
I recommend Lucy, for complaints as well.
I read these articles and hear Seinfeld in my head, “That’s a shame”.
Or
I still have my 45 vinyl of this song by Fats…
That reminds me, must buy new strings for my violin 🎻
Really short strings for the worlds tiniest
😉
Was that the smallest one you could find, GB??
Must try harder…😉😎
What?
They blamed someone besides Trump??
I think we are making progress!
Abbott, Trump, the man in the moon…anyone but themselves for supporting the leftwing policies that brought on this crisis.
How many times did we hear “humanitarian” in their non-replies to the Deface the Nation host’s questions? What a load of BS.
Cry me a river!
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Roy Oberson, Crying..
The last couple of bars 😉
Alcaldes, llorame un rio, perras!
So, now it’s DANGEROUS to put them on airplanes. Guess I won’t be flying until they make air travel safe..
Why should illegal aliens be given work visas that take jobs from Americans and legal aliens (while lowering the pay for everyone in the process)?
They are here to replace you….. and be slaves to the elite regime.
You are closer to the truth than you know.
Illegals pay Mexican cartels (coyotes work for cartels) to get them to/over the border. Usually about 15k.
Once here the Illegals send money back to Mexico to pay the debt.
Then our corrupt government officials/Politicians get a cut from
the cartels. El Chapo actually bragged
that he had a lot of politicians on his
payroll.
That they are sending money to family is right up there with the….they just want to pick crops….lie. And if they do send money to family members, the family members in Mexico take it to Cartel.
The sooner the illegals get a paycheck, the sooner the Mexican cartels and corrupt politicians get their money.
Kari Lake once described it as Indentured Servants….aka slaves.
Until that debt is paid…the Cartels own them.
Hey mayors, why are ya’ll upset, I thought embracing being a sanctuary city was the liberal agenda. Or was it as with all liberal supposed policies, just BS, for liberal lackey consumption.
The mayors are not upset……..the are ” PRETENDING TO BE UPSET “
Good question, but did you notice that Margaret Brennan did not come even close to asking it?
No silly they want the illegals to go to all the states so everyone can feel the joys (read burdens) for illegal immigrants, for the good of the country of course. 🤮
Yes, Texas is just trying to share the “blessings” that sick, uneducated illegal aliens bring to their state.
I believe Nancy Pelosi called them God’s Children.
Denver and Chicago sould be grateful that Texas is willing to share so many of them.
Why should Texas get all the joy and delight of caring for these creeps.
Do you think Abbott is working with the Dems? I think that the photo-op is funny moving illegals to these cities but are they paying him under the table to do it? He is sending them hundreds if not thoisands of illegals that the Dems will let vote. These mayors care nothing about the bad press and even less about the citizens. More than likely Biden will use fed money to bail the Dem mayors out… which some of course will be skimmed and wind up in Dem coffers.
Yep, all part of the uniparty plan!
YES ABBOTT IS IN CAHOOTS
On the flip side what is he suppose to do with them? Texas can’t handle 10 million new people who bring nothing to the table.
Shut the border and Abbot will run out of people to ship.
MARGARET BRENNAN you can smell her fear lot of short responses.
Ah, and 2024 has not even started yet.
Let’s tune in this August and see how she is doing.
I wish we could repel the invaders down here…
There was a time my ancestors did just that…
We could … if we chose to.
This Regime in Stolen office chooses to facilitate the invasion of America by the worst of the worst.
And I’ll bet they didn’t charge $850 billion a year.
It would be far cheaper and profitable for Texas just to sell no limit hunting tags for anything crossing into their state illegally
Schadenfreude.
Sehr gut!
Well done Greg. Give them a free ride to the interior of the United States, they might not make it to their destination in time for the 2024 election.
If this wasnt part of the plan, they wouldnt be pretending t0 cry about it on TV. Fake news still fooling Conservatives after all this time. Didnt even have to watch it. The stupid look on the pretenders faces says it all.
Nailed it! The Repubes in congress are ALL in on it as well. We need to remember to shoot the traitors first.
They should be happy about it. Texas is only doing unto them what they would have done unto Texas. It’s called the Golden Rule.
Happy New Year, all.
When the ILLEGAL ALIENS are still coming and in our country anywhere,
It is not anything to be happy about and has nothing to do with the golden rule.
“It is not anything to be happy about…”
Tell that to progressives.
Do these cities allow illegals to vote? If so, Abbott sending huge numbers to these cities is just an easy pathway to get democrat voters.
If they don’t have laws on the books yet for them to vote dollars to doughnuts they will come November.
If you don’t want it, don’t ask for it.
It’s hideously funny that that these cretins, who are totally on board with the methods illegal immigrants, criminal gangs & NGOs use to smuggle people across the border.
Now object to the same methods being used against their convenience & consent within the US.
Tough tittes, Texas is making you abide by your avowed principles. They don’t want unlimited immigrants, but you said you did. Change your mind?
Nah, your permission isn’t necessary. Write to your Congressman.
Anyway happy new year.
Texas shouldn’t be allowing these illegals into the country.
They should be turned away at the gate!
☝🏻THIS☝🏻
Texas isn’t allowing them in. The federal government is the culprit.
They usually don’t come through a gate.
And Texas even put up barbed wire in places.
The Feds actually cut it.
Biden’s got to be being blackmailed to do this to his own country. What’s an old white racist doing agreeing to the re-colonization of his own country? Biden was always the quintessential guy who would never become president. Biden ever becoming president is like the thought of Chris Christie ever being able to become president. However, promise to install him, and give him that which he could never acheive on his own, and the corrupt plagiarist will do whatever his masters say.
Blackmailed? The grifting sob is more than happy to fill not only his own pockets but every one in his family with foreign payments for services rendered.
yeah? well, he can’t take it with him, but “the evil that men do live after them.”
How do you blackmail someone who can’t remember the last time his diaper was changed and where the gawd awful stench is coming from?
The wife.
All seems like a diversion to me. The feds are processing massive numbers of recruits as they cross the Texas border then relocating them to these cities. Abbott, rounding up the strays and shipping them to the same cites, is not going to make a dent.
Looks to be like these cites are the collection and deployment centers. Hard to hide these volumes. Abbott is the scapegoat.
Not to mention how many laws and aviation laws Abbot is violating. See, it’s Abbots fault. Not the sanctuary cities these asshat have stuck their populations with. Just gimme more federal dollars and this problem will be solved. We’re past the point of breaking and the ride continues. Our systems are over loaded. Our language, culture and borders have been compromised. I don’t understand how Americans turn their back to the problem, but they do.
In the words of my sister in law “ maybe we don’t want to look at it “
These people ALL OF THEM should be flying the ILLEGAL ALIENS back to where they came from !!!!
So, what I am saying is that Govenor Abbott is in cahoots with them and does NOT GIVE A DAMN.
We will wait to hear from the President. Oh wait, he is still part time and on holidays.
Immigrant flights into Chicago going to Rockford IL instead of O’Hare. Since Chicago has imposed a head-tax on busses unloading inside Chicago, the buses are unloading at various towns in the CTA train stations going into Chicago to avoid the tax.
Again, putting people on airplanes, and dropping them off in the city of Chicago and Denver, New York, without any coordination, without a manifest, I don’t know how many federal laws or aviation laws he can be violating……..
TSA is in charge of airport security so how does dat work? They have no idea who is on the aircraft ? !!!!!!
Shocked I say!
Abbott should protect his state from invasion rather than irritate other politicians.
In my opinion he’s no better than Mayorkas and they both deserve prosecution for treason.
Abbott is heeping one crime on top of another. There is nothing laudable about what he is doing.
I am a grunt, my understanding of things is primal, I don’t have a college education but I did graduate from the schol of hard knocks. There is a lot of knowledge and history in the collective minds of my fellow Treepers here and I always leave CTH a little wiser and a little more prepared for what I see on the horizon. So can someone please explain to me how any of this (the bussing and flying of illegals all over this nation) is not considered human trafficking and if so how the EO that Trump wrote could be applied to these crimes against We the People???
Trump In ChargeBy Michael Baxter –
December 30, 2023
1420
15734
“
Maine’s criminal Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, removing President Donald J. Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot has gripped his supporters with palpable fear, but a Mar-a-Lago source in daily contact with the president told Real Raw News that Trump is “in charge” and had expected the latest treachery”
This is an invasion here in Texas. The federal government does not care. Mybe we should send them all to D.C.?
Since they are criminals already, they would feel at home in d.c.
This doesn’t help matters…..
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2023/12/30/archbishop-catholics-rebel-against-churchs-pro-migration-policies/
One thing I discovered in a deep dive into the Presbyterian Church USA was that they have been receiving substantial donations from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation through the National Immigration Forum which has influenced church curriculum materials, hiring of those who support mass immigration, and promoted collaboration with the UN on immigration support.
In addition, I’m sure you realize that all these NGO’s like Catholic Charities are receiving millions from the government for each immigrant they sponsor and this money goes directly into their coffers. The figure I found was $59,600 for each child with 65% of that money going to administrative costs and opaque accounting.
Belle
If you do a search here at the Treehouse
you will find the extensive research Sundance did…about 10 years ago on how much the NGOs make.
Oh, the sins of sanctuary…!
“Rogue busses.”
Would that be “charter busses?”
As Bugs would say, what a couple of maroons!
Jeff Davis? Frederick Douglas?
The youngsters don’t know even who you are talking about thanks to your so-called education systems.
More Payne.
Lots and lots of Payne.
So much Payne they’ll want to start winning.
Does anyone know if there is a “Schadenfreude” emoji available to select?
🤗
“We need Congress to act”? Why? Both of these ‘mayors’ do whatever they are told by their Ultra Communist Governors.
If they can be shipped all over the country illegally,why can’t they be taken back over the border?
Because then they can’t be shipped all over the country illegally…..
I would assume that these foreigners have already been processed in and received their notice to expect to receive notice to appear before an immigration judge. After that, they are free to move about the country.
I suspect even this Brandon is thinking “let’s go Brandon.”
🤣🤣🤣☝☝
Can these Sanctuary City mayors be as stupid as they sound in interviews? Do they really not understand what the word sanctuary means? Do they think the small towns in Texas and Arizona can deal with the tidal wave of human refuse burying them every day for the past three years when these giant, wealthy, woke cities can’t? Shame on them and the Democrats them and all the Democrats who voted them! They have squandered their tax money and deserve every bit of the problems facing them!
Abbott is a RNC/Bush stooge. Send them south of the border or dump them in the Caribbean….get them the hell out of the US.
Unless travel restrictions exist, to borrow from Southwest Airlines, they are free to move about the country once here.