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Texas, Florida Governors Vow to Bus, Fly Illegal Migrants to D.C., Delaware

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Two Republican governors, fed up with President Joe Biden’s lack of serious immigration enforcement efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border, have vowed to take drastic new actions.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Wednesday his state will begin bussing migrants who cross illegally into the U.S. to Washington, D.C.

In a press conference, the governor’s busing pledge was just one of several new enforcement measures his administration plans to take on a state level ahead of an expected tsunami of migrants that experts and analysts say are is coming after the Biden White House announced an end to Title 42 last week.

The Trump administration first implemented the order under a public health law known as Title 42. It authorized border and immigration agents to immediately deport illegal migrants as a means of slowing the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the agency that initially imposed the rule — has said it will end May 23.

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As such, Abbott said his state will charter private buses to take migrants to the nation’s capital.

“With the Biden administration ending Title 42 expulsions in May, Texas will be taking its own unprecedented actions this month to do what no state in America has ever done in the history of this country to better secure our state, as well as our nation,” Abbott said at his press conference.

“To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed with hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden administration, Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to Washington, D.C.,” Abbott noted further. “We are sending them to the United States capital where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.”

The GOP governor also announced “enhanced public safety inspection of vehicles” that cross from Mexico into Texas at several ports of entry. The new policy will “dramatically slow traffic from Mexico into Texas,” Abbott noted, but he nevertheless said the new process will be vital to helping curb cartel activity flowing from Mexico into Texas.

“Those two strategies are in addition to announcing the following actions to further deter illegal immigrants, including deploying boat blockades at appropriate regions in the Rio Grande River, deploying razor wire at low-water crossings in high traffic areas, creating container blockades to drive people away from low water crossings,” Abbott said, adding that he will be announcing more measures next week.

Meanwhile, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, also said Wednesday his state will be sending illegal migrants the Biden administration has been bussing and flying in to the president’s home state of Delaware.

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DeSantis made his remarks in Naples, Fla., after signing a piece of legislation and addressing the end of Title 42.

“What we’re doing in Florida is saying, ‘We’re not gonna let the recklessness of those policies impact our state,'” DeSantis told those in attendance. “If businesses or contractors are dumping people who are illegal into Florida from southern Texas, you know, we’re gonna go after their ability to do business in Florida.”

“If Biden is dumping people, which he has dumped people, they fly them in at two in the morning,” DeSantis continued. “They haven’t done it lately, but they did it many months ago. We now have money where we can reroute them to sanctuary states like Delaware — and we’re gonna do that — to make sure we’re keeping people safe here.”

DeSantis made a similar threat in November after the administration sent several planeloads of illegal migrants to Florida.

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“If they’re going to come here, we’ll provide buses,” DeSantis said at the time. “I will send them to Delaware and do that.”

“If he’s not going to support the border being secure, then he should be able to have everyone there,” he added.

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