Texas has pushed a number of efforts – from legislation to legal challenges – in its feud with federal authorities over how to tackle the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border.
For nearly two years, the Lone Star State has also sent asylum seekers to so-called sanctuary cities across the country, such as New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Denver.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has argued the move is to demonstrate and shift the burden that the Biden administration’s border policies continue to place on the state but the program has proved a financial burden for Texas.
CNN reported Friday that although Abbott had said the controversial migrant busing program likely wouldn’t cost taxpayers, the governor’s operation has raised less than half of 1% of the millions spent it.
Here’s what you should know about Texas’ migrant busing program:
Texas announced that it would begin sending migrants to Washington, DC, in April 2022 — a move that would eventually expand to New York City and others — in response to the Biden administration saying it would lift Title 42, a pandemic-era border rule implemented by former President Donald Trump that effectively blocked most migrants from entering the US and seeking asylum. The rule expired in May 2023, more than a year after busing began.
Abbott argued at the time of his announcement that local leaders in the state were fed up with the federal government for releasing migrants into their communities. In defending the program in 2022, Abbott said that “it was just Texas and Arizona that bore the brunt of all the chaos and problems that come with (southern border crossings).”
“Now, the rest of America can understand exactly what is going on,” he said.
The definition…
Read the full article here
