Texas’ busing of migrants to D.C. isn’t having governor’s intended effect yet
WASHINGTON » Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas devised a plan this month to rattle the Biden administration by busing migrants from the southwest border to the nation’s capital during a period of record crossings.
So far, though, the plan has not resulted in the chaos that Abbott predicted.
“I would like to say thank you to the governor of Texas,” Chadrack Mboyo-bola, 26, said on Thursday morning, after he and 13 other migrants stepped off one of the chartered buses that had provided a 33-hour ride paid for by the state of Texas. Blocks from the U.S. Capitol, they were greeted by volunteers who would help them reach their desired destinations around the country to await their day in immigration court.
Three days earlier, MboyoBola and his family had crossed into the United States from Mexico along the border in central Texas after an eight-week journey from Brazil. After spending a day in Border Patrol custody in Eagle Pass, Texas, they and about 20 other new immigrants accepted an offer to board a Washington-bound bus in nearby Del Rio.
Abbott says his goal is to draw attention to what he and other Republicans describe as the failed immigration policies of President Joe Biden during a period of record crossings along the southwest border.
“The decision and the action to bus people from border communities was to alleviate the strain that’s put on the local communities along the border,” the governor said at a news conference on Thursday. “I’m going to take the border to President Biden.”
Abbott’s plan, however, happens to fit into the Biden administration’s strategy for responding to the surge in migrant crossings, which officials anticipate will increase sharply once a public health rule imposed during the coronavirus pandemic is lifted at the end of May. The Biden plan includes working with state and local governments and nonprofits to provide support, assistance and transportation to move migrants out of border communities and toward their final destinations in a humane and orderly way.
“In a way, it’s actually perfect,” said Bilal Askaryar, a spokesperson for Welcome With Dignity, a collective of about 100 local and national groups that help migrants. “Unintentionally, Gov. Abbott sent them to one of the best places in the nation to welcome people.”
In truth, the migrants that Texas is sending to Washington are coming voluntarily and are only a fraction of the thousands crossing the border daily. As of Monday, Abbott had sent about 195 migrants who volunteered for the trip to Washington since the first bus arrived on April 13, although more were en route. Mboyo-bola’s bus was the eighth from Texas; by Friday, two more had arrived.
Abel Nuñez, the executive director of the Central American Resource Center, a Washington-based nonprofit that helps immigrants find legal aid and housing, said the grassroots volunteer effort would not be sufficient if Washington was going to become a way station for many more migrants coming straight from the border.
Abbott, a two-term Republican up for reelection in November, has frequently bristled at the federal government’s sole authority over immigration matters, turning to initiatives like busing and arresting migrants for misdemeanor trespassing to try to wrest some control over enforcement. A recent effort to inspect all commercial vehicles crossing into the state backfired when it led to e
Republicans, as well as some Democratic lawmakers facing tough reelection races this fall, have blasted the Biden administration for its plan to end the temporary policy restricting immigration, known as Title 42. Even with the policy still in place, crossings at the southwest border have reached record highs: recently about 8,800 a day on average.