Texas company sues Chicago over penalties on buses dropping of migrants

A Texas bus company filed suit against the city of Chicago, alleging the city’s penalties on buses dropping off migrants are a violation of the Constitution.

Wynne Transportation’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Chicago earlier this month, claims the city’s creation of its own immigration policy violates the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause, which grants the federal government superseding regulation on the issue.

The suit comes as part of a larger battle over federal immigration policy and states’ power to regulate the influx of migrants. Chicago is one of several Democratic-led cities that have received thousands of migrants as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) busing operation to send migrants to so-called “sanctuary cities.”

Abbott’s operation, launched in April 2022, has sent more than 100,000 migrants to a series of cities including Chicago, New York and Denver. Mayors of these cities have repeatedly asked for federal help to deal with the influx of migrants and called the operation inhumane.

According to Chicago’s dashboard tracking arrivals in the city, more than 34,620 asylum seekers have arrived in the city by buses and planes sent by Texas.

The Windy City began rolling out harsher penalties late last year for buses carrying migrants that refuse to comply with the city’s safety protocols. The penalties include fines, towing or impoundment if the buses do not drop the individuals off in the designated landing zone and fill out the proper paperwork for new intake arrivals, the city said.

Wynne’s subcontractors face more than 90 suits filed by the city of Chicago, with possible fines ranging between $2,000 and $10,000, Michael Kozlowski, a Chicago-based attorney representing Wynne, told The Associated Press.

“That interferes with their business a great deal, and it’s intimidating for these subcontractors who are mostly smaller operators,” Kozlowski said.

The suit argues Chicago’s penalties are a violation of the interstate commerce clause, and the equal rights and due process of the company and the migrants on buses.

“Rather than welcoming migrants and giving them sanctuary, Chicago is turning its back on those wishing to travel here by enacting an ordinance that targets the transportation companies that transport migrants from our southern border to their desired destination — Chicago. — in violation of Plaintiff’s constitutional rights,” the suit stated.

The Hill reached out to the city of Chicago for comment.

The suit does not name any migrants or asylum-seekers but repeatedly references passengers’ rights and how Chicago is discriminating against the migrants through their regulation of bus operators.

Steven D. Schwinn, professor of law at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told the AP the absence of migrants in the lawsuit shows the complaint is largely a political move.

“So much of the complaint talks about the effect on migrant rights, immigrant rights, equal protection, discrimination against migrants and yet there are no migrants as part of this lawsuit,” Schwinn said, per the AP. “That tells me that this is really about politics.”

Various Texas-based bus and transportation companies are facing legal battles over their involvement with Abbott’s busing influx. New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced earlier this month the city filed suit against 17 charter companies, seeking more than $700 million to cover the cost of care for migrants sent to the Big Apple over the past 20 months.