More migrants arrive in Chicago after being flown from Texas to Rockford. Mayor Johnson says Gov. Abbott continues ‘to sow seeds of chaos.’

A plane carrying migrants from Texas landed about 1 a.m. Sunday at the Rockford International Airport, and the migrants were “offloaded and immediately boarded buses” headed toward Chicago, according to officials.

By late Sunday afternoon, some passengers from the plane had arrived in the Chicago’s migrant landing zone in the West Loop, a city spokesperson said.

It was the second such private plane chartered by Texas officials, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “is determined to continue to sow seeds of chaos” amid the migrant crisis. Johnson called on Congress to provide the necessary resources to deal with the issue and better coordination between all levels of government.

In a social media post, Rockford officials said there were 355 migrants on the flight. The officials “were given limited notice” the migrants were arriving.

Chicago officials said the plane was a private Boeing 777 coming from San Antonio, and that after landing, migrants boarded eight buses chartered by Greg Abbott.

The city’s statement suggested the flight was an escalation of Texas’ response to a recent Chicago ordinance that allowed the city to sue “rogue” bus operators dropping off migrants outside of set approved hours and locations. In recent weeks, Texas officials have opted to drop migrants off just outside Chicago limits as well.

A late Saturday joint statement from Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, Winnebago County Board Chair Joe Ciarelli and other local officials said the buses were supposed to end up at Chicago’s landing zone.

“The buses dropped passengers off in various suburbs and they are making their way to the City via train and other means,” a statement from a city of Chicago spokesperson said.

Winnebago County law enforcement followed the buses to the McHenry County line and turned around, according to an updated Facebook post.

About 30 migrants reportedly got off a bus in Elgin Sunday morning, walked to the Metra station and boarded the No. 2708 train at 9:55 a.m. bound for Chicago, according to Elgin Mayor David Kaptain.

“All the tickets were paid for,” Kaptain said. “And they headed into the city.”

By late Sunday afternoon, some of the migrants from Rockford had arrived to the city’s landing zone. But there was no official count then of arrivals from the plane, said Mary May, a spokesperson for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Rockford officials said they were not aware of other flights bound for their city.

“However, the Texas Department of Emergency Management is managing this situation,” they said. “We will remain in contact with them. ... If we get more of these flights, we will activate our local Emergency Operations Center to coordinate logistics and planning to ensure the safety of all involved throughout this process.”

The first plane, chartered by the Texas Division of Emergency Management, arrived at O’Hare Airport Dec. 19, carrying 120 migrants, a fraction of the 28,000 migrants Abbott said had been transported to Chicago since August 2022.

An Abbott spokesperson confirmed to the Tribune that Texas officials opted for airplanes after Johnson started “targeting migrant buses from Texas” with fines or impoundment.

Bus drivers have also dropped migrants off just outside the city — in Indiana or, increasingly, in the suburbs — and given them Amtrak tickets or Metra cards to get downtown, according to city officials.

On the CBS show “Face the Nation” Sunday, Mayor Johnson said Abbott’s practice of transporting migrants via airplane without any coordination to various cities was a “very dangerous task” and “a matter of national security.”

The plane’s arrival came as temperatures dipped in the city, snow fell throughout the morning, and wind chills were expected to reach the low 20s.

“What we have is clearly an international and federal crisis that local governments are being asked to subsidize, and this is unsustainable,” Johnson said. “None of our local economies are positioned to carry on such a mission. What we have attempted to do is create structure and some coordination around this humanitarian crisis. And unfortunately, Gov. Abbott is determined to continue to sow seeds of chaos.”

Johnson said it’s “no secret that we need comprehensive immigration reform.”

“What we have said repeatedly is that we need Congress to act to provide the resources that are needed in order to carry out this mission,” he said. “The rogue buses that are being dropped off across this country in the middle of the night — leaving people with no real support at all, no coordination with the local municipalities —that type of chaos is certainly dividing in our country, and we need better coordination between all levels of government to be able to respond to this mission.”

”Putting people on airplanes and dropping them off in the city of Chicago and Denver and New York without any coordination, without a manifest, I don’t know how many federal laws or aviation laws he can be violating,” he said in reference to Abbott, later adding the “rogue bus” ordinance was designed so that bus drop-offs could be better coordinated.

Texas officials “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,” he said.

Metra spokesperson Martha Hill said about 75 buses transporting migrants had arrived at various outlying Metra stations since Dec. 19. Though migrants already had fare cards, the agency received no advance notification of their arrival. Those riders were transported to downtown stations and passed off to OEMC or were picked up by family and friends, Hill said.

More buses were expected, she said. The city estimated 14 — including the eight from Rockford — were to arrive by the end of Sunday. Figures are likely to change, the city warned, because of the practice of drop-offs in adjacent suburbs.

As of Sunday morning, there were 14,585 migrants staying at 27 active shelters in Chicago. Nearly 600 were awaiting placement: 53 at Chicago police stations, 241 at O’Hare Airport and nearly 300 at the city’s landing zone.

May said the overall numbers of migrants at the landing zone is fluid as arriving migrants are placed with housing, meet up with family or friends in Chicago or prepare to travel elsewhere.

By mid-afternoon at the landing zone, migrants milled around four CTA warming buses parked in a barricaded part of Polk Street that butts up against the Dan Ryan Expressway, as police officers kept watch in cruisers parked along Des Plaines Street.

Kaptain said the arrival of migrants in Elgin was reported by a Metra conductor, and relayed to the Kane County Office of Emergency Management. Elgin officials were informed of the migrant dropoff by Metra and residents who witnessed the passenger transfer.

“We have no direct confirmation from our staff in Elgin that they actually saw the people,” Kaptain said.

Kaptain said it is the second time in a week that migrants have reportedly arrived without notice in Elgin.

In the previous incident, the passengers got off a bus from Texas in downtown Elgin and walked to the Metra station. Most caught a train into the city, while some were met by family or friends, Kaptain said.

There were no reports of migrants being dropped off in nearby Hoffman Estates, Mayor Bill McLeod said Sunday.

aquig@chicagotribune.com