Texas has bused nearly 9,000 asylum seekers to New York City and Washington, DC in recent months, as part of Gov. Greg Abbott's effort to highlight his criticism of the Biden administration's immigration policies.
In a statement Friday, Abbott's office said Texas has bused more than 7,400 migrants to DC since April and more than 1,500 migrants to New York City since August 5.
"The busing mission is providing much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border communities," the statement said. "Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps left by the Biden Administration's refusal to secure the border."
A fierce critic of the Biden administration's immigration policies, Abbott began sending hundreds of willing migrants on buses to DC earlier this year as an affront to the administration. Abbott's office has said that "to board a bus or flight, a migrant must volunteer to be transported and show documentation from DHS."
New York City has received record numbers of migrants this week and more buses are expected, a spokesperson for the mayor's Office of Immigration told CNN on Saturday.
Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials have previously accused Abbott's administration of forcing asylum seekers onto buses bound for New York City and not coordinating with city officials on the transfer of people. Earlier this month, city officials said intake centers were already overwhelmed with more than 4,000 people since a surge that began in May. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Courtesy of Opportunity Center for the Homeless |
The city government of El Paso chartered a bus this week to send 35 Venezuelan migrants to New York City, a step meant to address a growing number of people from the South American country crossing from Mexico.
The move by the Democrat-led city comes as New York officials have been raising complaints about Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sending busloads of migrants to their city without warning. The buses sent by Texas have strained social services in New York, which promises shelter to virtually every unhoused person in its borders.
But some advocates say the busing is beneficial for the migrants, who receive safe and comfortable transportation to their final destinations after an often arduous excursion.
“It’s a journey that we never expected to experience,” Roxeli, a Venezuelan migrant, said aboard an El Paso United Charters bus heading to New York City on Tuesday. “It was a rough environment. We had to cross oceans, rivers, jungles — countries where perhaps we weren’t welcome.”
Around her, other smiling migrants settled into their seats, ate pizza and sandwiches provided by volunteers, and prayed for their safety during the next leg of their journey.
“For a better future for our children, we’re capable of getting anywhere,” said Roxeli, whom El Paso Matters is identifying only by first name as she is fleeing violence and fears for her safety. Her comments were captured by the Opportunity Center for the Homeless, which has been caring for an increasing number of unhoused migrants in El Paso. --->READ MORE HERE
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