GOP governors create havoc busing migrants

WASHINGTON >> Lever Alejos was out of money and out of options when he arrived in South Texas last month after an arduous journey from Venezuela that culminated with him crossing the Rio Grande in water up to his chin. The Border Patrol quickly arrested him, and after his release, he was offered a choice: a $50 bus ride to San Antonio or a free bus ride to Washington, D.C., paid for by the state of Texas.

“I wanted San Antonio, but I had run out of money,” said Alejos, 28, who has no family in the United States. “I boarded the bus to Washington.”

A few days later, he arrived in the nation's capital, among a busload of weary migrants. He spent the first night in the plaza across from Union Station but eventually found a bed at Central Union Mission, where he hopes to stay until he can apply for asylum, get a work permit and find a job.

A political tactic by the governors of Texas and Arizona to offload the problems caused by record levels of migration at the border is beginning to hit home in Washington as hundreds of migrants arriving on the governors' free bus rides each week increasingly tax the capital's ability to provide emergency food and housing.

With no money and no family to receive them, the migrants are overwhelming immigrant nonprofits and other volunteer groups, with many ending up in homeless shelters or on park benches. Five buses arrived on a recent day, spilling young men and families with nowhere to go.

Since April, Texas has delivered more than 6,200 migrants to the nation's capital, with Arizona dispatching an additional 1,000 since May. The influx has prompted Muriel E. Bowser, Washington's Democratic mayor, to ask the Defense Department to send the National Guard in. The request has infuriated organizations that have been assisting the migrants without any city support.

A vast majority of recent bus riders are Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-ridden country, and many have also been arriving in New York, often via Washington. Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, announced emergency measures Monday to enable the city to quickly build additional shelter capacity. The mayor, also a Democrat, said the city had received 4,000 asylumseekers since May, fueling a 10% growth in the homeless population, with about 100 new arrivals each day.

Venezuelans have been showing up daily at the offices of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York seeking help.

AMANDA ANDRADE-RHOADES — THE NEW YORK TIMES Tents of the homeless are seen at McPherson Square in Washington, D.C., Thousands of migrants have been arriving on buses sent by the governors of Texas and Arizona, and many have ended up in homeless shelters and on the streets.