The official website of the Office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott has a new feature; there is now a donation page where concerned citizens can contribute funds to bus migrants from Texas border towns to Washington, D.C.
Between April 13 and April 22, ten buses carrying migrants and asylum seekers traveled from Texas border towns to Washington, D.C., according to the governor’s press release.
The buses, chartered by the Texas Division of Emergency Management at the direction of Governor Abbott, transported migrants from Angola, Brazil, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The passengers on the 30-hour bus ride traveled voluntarily and were not forced to go to Washington.
According to Abbott, busing the migrants to the nation’s capital was intended to send a message.
“Thanks to the State of Texas, President Biden will be able to immediately meet the needs of migrants he is allowing to cross our border by busing them to his backyard,” he said. “We should not have to bear the burden of the federal government’s inaction to secure the border, and the Lone Star State will do whatever it takes to keep Texans safe.”
The idea for the chartered bus trips to Washington came after local officials in South Texas communities such as Uvalde and Del Rio advised Abbott that they could not cope with the influx of illegal migrants from the federal DHS.
“They were pleading for help. At the same time, they were speaking about themselves transporting these people up to San Antonio,” said Abbott. The governor then suggested what he called “a better idea”: “Let’s just bus them all the way to Washington, D.C.”
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the Maryland-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said that the migrants are being used as “political pawns” to stage a “shameless publicity stunt.”
Press Secretary Jen Psaki echoed the same sentiment in a White House briefing, saying, ” I think it’s pretty clear that this is a publicity stunt.”
Still, Psaki saw a positive outcome in the situation, adding that “it’s nice the state of Texas is helping them get to their final destination as they await the outcome of their immigration proceedings.”
According to various news sources, some migrants are thanking the governor for the free bus ride to the East Coast.
“I am very thankful to the governor,” Reydel Grau, a Cuban man who traveled nearly a month to reach the U.S., told The New York Times. “His help is very much welcomed.”
Santo Linarte López, a migrant from Nicaragua, told the Times he did not fully understand why Abbott was paying for his passage to D.C., but he was grateful as the bus ride brought him closer to his final destination in North Carolina.
Bilal Askaryar, a spokesperson for Welcome with Dignity, a coalition of groups that help migrants, commented, “In a way, it’s actually perfect. Unintentionally, Governor Abbott sent them to one of the best places in the nation to welcome people.”
Those who wish to contribute to the bus fund may do so here. The website notes that “any unused Border Transportation Funding will be applied to the Texas Border Wall Funding.”
