OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) continued to make good on a pledge last week to bus illegal migrants to Washington, D.C., thereby preventing the Biden administration from relocating them in the Lone Star State.
The first busload of migrants arrived on Wednesday, and it was followed up by a second busload on Thursday, Fox News reported:
A second bus from Texas arrived near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., just before 4:30 a.m. Thursday, transporting more than a dozen illegal immigrants as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s new plan to counter federal immigration policies during an ongoing border crisis.
Abbott announced last week that he was directing the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to transport migrants released from federal custody in Texas to the nation’s capital and other locations outside his state.
Fourteen migrants stepped off the bus a block from Union Station on First Street. The migrants are from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Colombia, one man said.
“As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps & keep Texans safe. We should not have to bear the burden of Biden’s failure to secure our border. A second bus is en route,” Abbott wrote in a tweet on Wednesday containing Fox News video of migrants arriving in the nation’s capital on the first bus.
As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps & keep Texans safe.
We should not have to bear the burden of Biden’s failure to secure our border.
A second bus is en route. pic.twitter.com/LpttNUscFk
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 14, 2022
A second Texas bus drops off illegals near the US Capitol in Washington, DChttps://t.co/zFdWDVXsnQ
— Ben Owen (@hrkbenowen) April 14, 2022
A second bus carrying migrants from Texas arrived at the U.S. Capitol early Thursday morning.https://t.co/ynHqICxBpG
— KTXS News (@KTXS_News) April 14, 2022
“According to [the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM)], Abbott’s plan is already working. The agency told Fox News on Monday that many of the communities that originally reached out for support – from the Rio Grande Valley to Terrell County – say the federal government stopped dropping immigrants in their towns since Abbott’s announcement on April 6,” Fox News reported.
The agency added that buses were dispatched over the weekend following Abbott’s announcement last week to border communities where officials coordinated with local leaders to identify the migrants. TDEM noted further that each bus can carry up to 40 migrants and supplies needed to care for them after they are released into Texas communities.
Fox News reported that Abbott’s legal authority to transport the migrants to the nation’s capital remains murky. A 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case, Arizona v. the United States ostensibly prevents states from making their own immigration policies, but it’s not clear that providing transportation to migrants qualifies under that ruling.
For his part, Abbott says the Biden administration is simply refusing to do its constitutional duty to uphold federal immigration laws and preserve the integrity of state (and international) boundaries.
“Texans demand and deserve an aggressive, comprehensive strategy to secure our border—not President Biden’s lackluster leadership,” Abbott said in a statement. “As the federal government continues to roll back commonsense policies that once kept our communities safe, our local law enforcement has stepped up to protect Texans from dangerous criminals, deadly drugs, and illegal contraband flooding into the Lone Star State.”
Last week following Abbott’s announcement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki referred to his pledge to bus migrants to D.C. as a “publicity stunt.” On Wednesday, she said it was “nice” of Texas to transport the previously processed migrants on behalf of the government.
