This past Tuesday, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that his state has been able to move close to 16,000 migrants via bus to a number of self-proclaimed sanctuary cities throughout 2022.
Abbott shared the recent update in a social media post with specific details on the total number of migrants relocated to each of the four included cities.
“Texas has bused over 15,900 migrants to sanctuary cities,” stated Abbott in a tweet.
Texas has bused over 15,900 migrants to sanctuary cities.
⁃ Over 8,900 to DC
⁃ Over 4,900 to NYC
⁃ Over 1,500 to Chicago
⁃ Over 630 to PhiladelphiaWe’re providing relief to local communities overwhelmed by President Biden’s open border policies.
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) December 27, 2022
“We’re providing relief to local communities overwhelmed by President Biden’s open border policies,” he stated.
The state has managed to move over 8,900 migrants to a number of areas around Washington, D.C., the highest number among the other sanctuary cities, as explained by Abbott.
Abbott also highlighted that over 4,900 migrants were shipped out to New York City, over 630 sent out to Philadelphia, and the remaining 1,500 were deposited in the city of Chicago.
The governor’s busing program managed to make headlines this past Christmas Eve when a group of three busloads of migrants arrived at the personal home of Vice President Kamala Harris.
#HappeningNow the second bus of migrants has arrived here in D.C. near VP Kamala Harris’ home. They are boarding another bus taking them to a church. Was just told by someone helping bring them to the church that this bus came from Texas: pic.twitter.com/Sp4upqz1yB
— Christian Flores (@CFloresNews) December 25, 2022
The migrants, which reportedly had a number of both children and women, were dropped off in cold temperatures prior to being shifted over to another bus line and relocated into local churches for help.
“Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in below-freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any federal or local authorities,” stated Abdullah Hasan, a spokesman for the White House, as reported by the New York Times. “This was a cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt.”
The 15,900 migrants are just a very small percentage of the migrants who have managed to get across the southern border throughout the time that President Joe Biden has held office.
The area around El Paso, Texas, alone has been made to deal with a massive surge of well over 2,400 migrants per day, highlighting a massive 40% spike in the already high numbers seen in October, as reported by Reuters.
According to data released publicly, well over 80,000 migrants have, over the course of the previous four months, made their way into El Paso.
A recently released update from Abbott’s Operation Lone Star effort to address the border crisis highlighted 336,000 migrant apprehensions in just Texas alone since the start of March of last year. These arrests have included well over 23,000 criminal arrests
As of this past October, border agents came into contact with close to 2 million illegal immigrants. This was seen as a notable jump from last year when it sat at 1.7 million.