Texas Gov. Greg Abbot says the state has bused 35,000 migrants to cities of refuge
In response to the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border, Texas has bused more than 35,000 migrants to so-called cities of refuge — including over 13,000 to New York City — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday.
Abbott launched the Migrant Busing Program in April 2022 to force the blue states to share the burden Texas is facing due to record numbers of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers crossing the border from Mexico to the United States since President Biden took office cross USA .
“Texas has bused over 35,000 migrants to self-declared cities of refuge” Abbott tweeted Tuesday, including a breakdown of which cities have taken in the most migrants.
“Over 11,300 to DC, over 13,300 to NYC, over 6,700 to Chicago, over 2,600 to Philadelphia, over 1,000 to Denver, over 480 to LA,” the governor noted.
The totals released by Abbott on Tuesday represent a rise of more than 12,000 since the state last updated the number of migrants arriving as part of Operation Lone Star — a measure launched by the governor in 2021 to secure the State borders and burden sharing – were bussed out of the state.
In June, Abbott reported that the more than 500 buses Texas has sent to sanctuary cities have displaced 22,650 migrants from the Lone Star State.
“Our bus mission provides critical assistance to congested Texas border towns,” Abbott argued in his Tuesday tweet, which appeared the day after 12. Migrant bus since June came to Los Angeles from Texas.
The influx of migrants into blue states, many of which are far from the southern border, has fueled conflicts between Democratic state and local officials and the Biden administration.
In Washington, DC last August, Mayor Muriel Bowser called on fellow Democrat Biden to mobilize the National Guard to provide assistance and shelter to migrants arriving from Texas — a request rejected by the Biden administration.
New York City’s growing immigrant population, which is expected to double by June 2024, has stretched the city’s resources, including schools and housing, and Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has urged the 80-year-old president to take more than three dozen measures to improve Coping with the crisis to seize times.
Last month, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged Biden to raise the issue in her first public appeal to the White House since the crisis began in spring 2022.
“This crisis originated with the federal government and must be resolved by the federal government,” Hochul said in an Aug. 24 remark, announcing that their demands were made in a letter to the president.
She refrained from urging the White House to declare a state of emergency, which Adams had repeatedly called for since last year.
