Editor’s Note: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office responded to the newspaper’s request for comment after publication. This version reflects their response.

The Democratic mayors of Denver, Chicago and New York City on Wednesday blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for what they called a “reckless and unsafe” political strategy of transporting droves of immigrants to their communities, which they said threatens local economies.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston joined the 40-minute press conference with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to call on the federal government to step up to the moment.

“We cannot continue to do the federal government’s job,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during the video call.

The mayors convened online on the same day that Secretary of State Tony Blinken met with Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discuss the surge of immigrants at the southern border.

Tens of thousands of immigrants — mostly from South and Central America — have poured into these traditional gateway cities, which now include Denver.

In the 12 months since 90 immigrants from South and Central America were dropped off downtown to wander Denver in the cold, Colorado’s most populous city has welcomed 34,461 new comers.

The unprecedented surge of immigrants has cost Denver taxpayers more than $36 million, according to the city.

Despite state and federal grants, Denver taxpayers have shouldered most of that cost.

Over the past year, these cities have seen multiple surges in new immigrant arrivals, but the mayors blamed the Republican governor of Texas, who has bused more than 11,800 immigrants to Colorado’s most populous city since May. The numbers came from Abbott’s office.

Dubbed “Operation Lone Star,” Texas has transported nearly 70,000 immigrants to Chicago, Denver and New York City, over the past 16 months.

“We cannot do this alone,” said Johnson, Chicago’s mayor. “We need more support from the federal government.”

Each mayor described local efforts to rein in what they described as Texas’ chaotic bus drops — at all hours of the night — by creating legal requirements that bus operators alert receiving cities in advance and drop immigrants at a designated stop during working hours.

Johnson said Abbott retaliated by flying immigrants to Chicago on private planes without a manifest that identifies passengers and cargo.

Renae Eze, an Abbott spokesperson, called out the duplicity of the mayors.

“The sheer hypocrisy of these Democrat mayors knows no bounds,” Eze said in an email to The Denver Gazette. “They are now going to extreme lengths to avoid fulfilling their self-declared sanctuary city promises, yet they remain silent as President Biden transports migrants all around the country and oftentimes in the cover of night.”

For years, Republicans have accused the Biden administration of organizing secret immigrant flights dubbed “ghost flights.”

The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, a non-profit that works with unaccompanied minors, has said the feds have done this for years because by law the federal government is required to care for these children until they are reunited with a sponsor, parent or relative.

Eze added, “Instead of attacking Texas’ efforts to provide relief to our overwhelmed border communities, these Democrat mayors should call on their party leader to finally do his job and secure the border — something he continues refusing to do.”

Johnston, Denver’s mayor, vaguely described a similar approach in his city, although it was not immediately clear when these restrictions on charter buses were implemented.

Jordan Fuja, a Johnston spokesperson, did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment Wednesday.

As recently as two weeks ago — during this latest surge — a bus was seen dropping off at least two Venezuelan families six miles from Denver Human Services, which has been managing the humanitarian response for the city since lifting the emergency declarations.

And last week, Denver officials welcomed what they called a “ghost bus” from Texas that dropped immigrants off in front the state Capitol.

Democrat and Republican governors for months have exchanged jabs at each other for busing immigrants out of their state and into others.

“Denver finds itself right now at ground zero in trying to resolve and respond to the migrant crisis,” Johnston said. “We have had at this point more migrant arrivals to our city than any city in America, per capita.

“And that is not because there is a thoughtful or coordinated strategy to entry. It is because we are the first big city north of El Paso.”

El Paso Texas — the nearest U.S. city at the U.S. border with Mexico — is more than 600 miles from Denver.

Officials have speculated that immigrants are drawn to Denver because of its relative proximity to the Mexico border, while others believe its status as a “sanctuary city” is the appeal.

Broadly speaking, a sanctuary city refers to local policies that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

All three mayors said the humanitarian effort to feed, house, cloth and educate these new arrivals had become a financial burden that threatens local resources, with possible cuts to services for immigrants or city budgets coming without federal intervention.

New York City, for example, is under a hiring freeze and department heads have been tasked with identifying 5% in cuts.

Johnston identified three steps that, he said, the federal government must take to intervene: make dramatic increases in the number of work authorizations, additional funding to meet the crisis and a coordinated entry plan.

Local governments have been left scrambling to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis. Texas, for example, has instituted border barriers and made illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico a state crime.

“Biden abandoned his constitutional duty to secure the border, so Texas stepped up to respond,” Abbot said on the social media platform X, where he posted a picture of a border wall construction.   

Early in the crisis, Denver officials determined city taxpayers would pay to transport immigrants to the city of their choice, although city and state bureaucrats have not always alerted officials in other states prior to transporting immigrants out of Denver.

The mayors of New York City and Chicago earlier this year criticized Gov. Jared Polis for also shuffling immigrants around, an accusation that has also been leveled against Republican governors, such as Abbot, who bused a group of immigrants to a street near the Naval Observatory, which houses the vice president’s official residence.

City officials have purchased bus, plane and train tickets for roughly half the new arrivals.