New York City, Chicago suburbs turn their backs on migrant buses, say they cannot handle influx

Local officials in suburban areas outside New York City and Chicago are fighting to keep migrant bus arrivals from unloading migrants in their neighborhoods.

The ongoing illegal immigration crisis — which broke a record in December with over 300,000 encounters at the border in a single month — continues to put a strain on communities as migrants are bused north from the southern border.

"We empathize when someone is trying to seek asylum or when someone is trying to take them in. But we don’t have the capacity to take them in," said Mayor Reed Gusciora of Trenton, New Jersey.

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The groups of migrants are being transported via buses and airplanes in an act of protest from southern states, most prominently Texas. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began bussing migrants to New York City and other sanctuary jurisdictions last year. Abbott’s office has said it has sent around 27,000 migrants to New York City since then and has done so to relieve pressure on besieged border communities.

Mayor Sam Joshi of Edison, New Jersey announced via social media that he "instructed our law enforcement and emergency management departments to charter a bus to transport the illegal migrants right back to the southern Texas/Mexican border."

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Highway signs near the Chicago suburbs in Grundy County, Illinois, tell bus drivers in no uncertain terms, "NO MIGRANT BUSES THIS EXIT."

Rural communities in the area say they have been unable to care for the migrants, who often arrive at odd hours with no supplies and no further plans.

"I don’t think this problem is going to stop," said Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley. "We’re a rural community. We just don’t have the same kind of tax base that the city of Chicago does to be able to provide those resources."

Between Dec. 1 and December 31, more than 302,000 migrants were documented attempting to cross the U.S. southern border. 

More than 785,000 migrant encounters have been reported since the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 — the highest first-quarter total ever recorded.

Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this report.