The Morning Call

Migrant bus arrives in Philadelph­ia

City welcomes 28; girl sent to hospital

- By Maryclaire Dale Associated Press reporter Paul J. Weber contribute­d to this story from Austin, Texas.

PHILADELPH­IA — A bus carrying 28 migrants from Texas arrived in Philadelph­ia on Wednesday, including a 10-year-old girl suffering from dehydratio­n and a high fever who was whisked to a hospital for treatment.

Advocates who welcomed them with coats and blankets as they arrived before dawn on a cold, drizzly morning said the families and individual­s came from Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The city and several nonprofit groups were ready to provide food, temporary housing and other services.

“In general, people feel relieved. We want them to know that they have a home here,” said Philadelph­ia City Councilmem­ber Helen Gym, who accompanie­d several of the migrants on a second bus taking them to an intake center.

“There’s a 10-year-old who’s completely dehydrated. It’s one of the more inhumane aspects that they would put a child who was dehydrated with a fever — now a very high fever — (on the bus),” Gym said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday that Philadelph­ia would be the next destinatio­n for migrants the state has been transporti­ng by the thousands from the U.S.-Mexico border to Democrat-led cities, news that came a week after the Republican easily won reelection.

Texas has put more than 300 busloads of migrants on the road since April, sometimes five in a day, on unannounce­d journeys to cities including New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The trips have cost Texas about $26 million, said Nim Kidd, chief of Texas Department of Emergency Management.

New York Mayor Eric Adams has accused Abbott’s office of being unwilling to coordinate to help them plan for the arrivals. Kidd, whose agency is overseeing the departures, said nongovernm­ental organizati­ons on the Texas border are in touch with groups in destinatio­n cities.

“We have full confidence that the NGOs that we are working with are communicat­ing with the NGOs in the places these buses are being delivered to,” Kidd told lawmakers Tuesday.

U.S. officials stopped more than 2 million illegal border crossings in the last fiscal year, a record high that reflects the deteriorat­ing economic and political conditions in some countries, plus the relative strength of the U.S. economy and uneven enforcemen­t of Trump-era asylum restrictio­ns.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, migrants at the U.S. border were stopped 2.38 million times, up 37% from 1.73 million times the year before.

Advocates in Philadelph­ia who greeted the latest group of 23 adults and five children said it was not clear how long they had been traveling. One said the trip would typically take about 40 hours.

“The kids are frightened, they’re exhausted, they’re tired,” said Emilio Buitrago of the nonprofit Casa de Venezuela.

A few people were met by relatives almost immediatel­y, while others planned to reunite with family or friends in nearby states in the coming days. Only one adult and an infant were expected to stay in the city, officials said. Three others exited the bus before it reached Philadelph­ia.

Abbott has sent the buses to Democratic-led cities to maximize exposure of what he calls the inaction of the Biden administra­tion over high numbers of migrants crossing the southern border. In all, he’s sent more than 13,000 migrants out of state since April.

Critics have waved off the buses as a political stunt, but voters rewarded Abbott last week with a record-tying third term as Texas governor in his race against Democrat Beto O’Rourke. Abbott made a series of hardline immigratio­n measures the centerpiec­e of his campaign.

Nearly 6 in 10 Texas voters favored Abbott’s decision to send migrants to northern cities, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of almost 3,400 voters in the state.

In a statement Tuesday, Abbott’s office said Philadelph­ia Mayor Jim Kenney “has long-celebrated and fought for sanctuary city status, making the city an ideal addition to Texas’ list of drop-off locations.”

Kenney, a Democrat, was typically blunt in response.

“It is sad and outrageous that Gov. Abbott and his administra­tion continue to implement their cruel and racist policies, using immigrant families, including children, as pawns to shamelessl­y push their warped political agenda,” he said at a Wednesday morning news conference.

Arizona and Florida have also sent migrants to northern U.S. cities.

Philadelph­ia had been planning for such a day for several months, working with more than a dozen local organizati­ons to provide migrants with shelter space, emergency health screening, food, water, language interpreta­tion and more. The city has also welcomed waves of Ukrainians, Afghans and others.

The people arriving from Texas are all in the country legally while they seek asylum, Kenney said.

“It is our duty to welcome and support these folks as they face some of the most trying times of their lives,” Kenney said. “At its core, this is a humanitari­an crisis, that started with instabilit­y and violence in South and Central America and is being accelerate­d by political dynamics in our own country.”

 ?? JOE LAMBERTI/AP ?? A bus of migrants departs near 30th Street Station after arriving early Wednesday in Philadelph­ia.
JOE LAMBERTI/AP A bus of migrants departs near 30th Street Station after arriving early Wednesday in Philadelph­ia.

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