The governor of Texas has said there is already a high demand for buses to take migrants from his state to Washington DC, in a move he sai...
The governor of Texas has said there is already a high demand for buses to take migrants from his state to Washington DC, in a move he said was designed to show Joe Biden the scale of the problem, and 'take the border to him'.
Greg Abbott, a Republican facing re-election in November and being challenged by Beto O'Rourke, announced on Wednesday that migrants who opted into the scheme would be bused from his state to DC, and left on the steps of the Capitol.
On Friday, Abbott said that his team had received multiple calls from communities in the Rio Grande Valley requesting buses to transport the migrants.
'Overnight there were multiple communities in the Rio Grande Valley asking us to provide buses for them, maybe even planes,' said Abbott.
Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, on Friday told Fox News that there had been a flurry of requests for buses to take migrants to Washington DC
Asylum-seeking migrants cross the Rio Bravo river from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico to El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday
He told Fox News hosts Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer: 'When they come across the border, it's not like they want to stay in the Rio Grande Valley.
'They are moving across the entire country.
'What better place to go to than the steps of the United States Capitol - they get to see the beautiful Capitol, and get closer to the people making the decisions.'
The scheme has been condemned by Democrats, with Sheila Jackson Lee, whose constituency encompasses parts of Houston, calling it an 'act of hysteria and grandstanding'.
She added: 'Those are not problem solving. They are adding to the grand march of hysteria.'
But Abbott insisted that it was legitimate.
Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, said that Abbott's scheme was 'hysteria' and did not solve the problem
Abbott defended the scheme, noting that the migrants did not want to remain in the Rio Grande Valley
Since Biden took office in January 2021, CBP has encountered more than 2.2 million migrants and the border – and that number could as much as triple with the end of Title 42 next month
'Joe Biden has refused to come to the border to see the chaos that he has created by his open border policies,' he said.
'So we are going to take the border to him by transporting the people that he is dropping off in these local communities in the state of Texas, and sending them to Washington by plane or by bus.
'What is happening is there is an increased number of people coming across the border. They, the federal government, are processing them and letting them loose.
'What has been happening so far is that these people are getting on buses and going to San Antonio, or Houston, or other places like that.
'So I think they just need longer bus rides.'
Migrants are pictured on Wednesday crossing into El Paso, Texas, from Ciudad Juarez
Migrants from Central and South America board a U.S. Customs and Border Protection bus after they crossed the Rio Grande river on Thursday
Abbott said the scheme had 'been happening for weeks if not months now.'
He added: 'We know the process works.
'It's just a matter of relocating the drop off point.'
The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) confirmed to Fox Digital that they have dispatched an unspecified number of buses to small Texas communities.
'In the last 24 hours, TDEM has dispatched buses to areas where communities have expressed concerns about the federal government dropping off migrants and has the capability to send as many as is necessary to fulfill the requests from mayors and county judges,' said Seth Christensen, chief of media and communications for TDEM.
'From the [Rio Grande Valley] to Terrell County, a large majority of the communities that originally reached out for support through this operation have now said that the federal government has stopped dropping migrants in their towns since the governor's announcement on Wednesday.'
Christensen said each bus 'has the capacity and supplies necessary to carry up to 40 migrants.'
None of the buses have yet set out for Washington DC.
The announcement comes as the Biden administration said it would drop Title 42, the pandemic-era border restriction that immediately expels migrants back to Texas, which was enacted by Donald Trump.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, pictured Wednesday, has announced a plan to bus illegal immigrants who cross into the Lone Star State straight to Washington DC
Ukrainian migrants seeking asylum are pictured in Mexico on April 6. Abbott says anyone crossing into Texas illegally will now be deposited on the steps of the US Capitol building
Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management (pictured in white shirt to right of Abbott) said as many buses as necessary would be filled, and cited prior disasters where 900 of the vehicles have been called into action
In a statement on April 1, Abbott called ending Title 42 'reckless' and said Biden's 'open-border policies' have caused the state to take drastic measures like sending out Department of Public Safety troopers and more than 10,000 Texas National Guard members to arrest migrants at the border.
And on Wednesday, Abbott warned that dumping Title 42 would lead to 18,000 illegal migrants crossing the border every day - equivalent to 500,000 a month.
He cited Obama-era Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson's 2019 claim that 100,000 migrants crossing the border in a month could be considered a crisis in any circumstances.
And Abbott warned that the flow expected after Title 42 is axed would effectively add the number of people living in LA - four million - to the United States' population by Christmas.
He explained: 'We have more people potentially crossing our border by the end of this year than live in Los Angeles, America's second-largest city.'
On Wednesday, Abbott also announced enhanced checks on all cars crossing the southern border into Texas, to try and cut down on cartel smuggling.
He warned of advanced wait times for people coming into the US.
Abbott went on to say that state troopers would be given riot gear to push back any orchestrated plans to overwhelm border crossings by caravans, and that they'd be conducting rehearsals in the coming days.
Explaining the measures he is enacting, Abbott said: 'We're deploying boat blockades at appropriate regions in the Rio Grande, deploying razor wire in low water areas and creating container blockades to drive people away from low water areas
'There will be mass-migration rehearsals from tomorrow – troopers will be equipped with riot gear in case of violence.
'The border region is going to be lit at night in prominent smuggling areas to make it easier to detect any illegal activity that is taking place.
'If you're a caravan organizer, and you think you can overwhelm a site of entry, we'll be waiting for you.'
Abbott noted that Texas had become 'the first state to ever build a wall to secure our border.'
Abbott also said he is implementing a 'zero-tolerance policy' for smuggling in migrants in vehicles at the border. He said that agents would conduct 'safety inspections' on every vehicle trying to cross the border.
Abbott said the vehicle checks and migrant bussing would be in addition to blockades the state is implementing along the border.
He said that boats blockades, shipping container blockades and razor wire would be erected at high-traffic areas and low water crossings.
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