The number of Latinos living with HIV or AIDS in Chicago grew nearly 17% from 2020 to 2024 while it dropped among the white and Black population during that period.  That’s according to a Tuesday story by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, which are jointly owned.

Whose to blame? The story, written by Elvia Malagón, pins it on Texas Governor Greg Abbott. “During that time [2020 to 20240], ” the article says, “more than 51,000 newly arrived immigrants, many who identify as Latino, resettled in Chicago. They were bused here and other Democrat-led cities by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a political ploy to critique former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.”

In truth, the first buses from Texas to Chicago did not come until August 31, 2022.

Moreover, the claimed 51,000 bused to Chicago is trivial compared to the total number of illegal migrants in the area. According to Pew Research, there are 550,000 illegal migrants in Illinois, a number which surged by over 75,000, and they are overwhelmingly Latino.

Not mentioned in the WBEZ/Sun-Times story is the obvious: The 2020 to 2024 period during which the surge occurred was Joe Biden’s term as president when the border was essentially open.

In related news, we learned last week that Jose Medina, the illegal Venezuelan migrant charged with murdering Loyola student Sheridan Gorman in Chicago on March 19, has tuberculosis.

-Mark Glennon

UPDATE AND CORRECTION: The date of first bus arrivals was in 2022, not 2023 as this story first said.