Gov. Greg Abbott’s strategy of sending busloads of migrants to sanctuary cities in blue states could be forcing left-wing politicos nationwide to reckon with the consequences of the current crisis at the southern border.
For years, those on the left have been hostile to the implementation of policies that would stem unlawful migration, working, for example, to head off many of Texas’ attempts to beef up border security measures.
When Texas placed floating buoys on the Rio Grande River to deter unlawful crossings, the Justice Department under President Joe Biden sought a court order to have the buoys removed, as The Dallas Express reported. When the state installed concertina wire to secure the border, some federal agents started cutting the wire until they were recently enjoined from doing so absent an emergency situation.
However, perhaps the most visible of Abbott’s methods of mitigating unlawful migration in Texas has been the one that was initially considered to be of mostly symbolic value: the busing of unlawful migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities and municipalities with “right-to-shelter” policies.
Since the governor launched the endeavor in March of 2022, more than 75,000 unlawful migrants have been transported to major U.S. cities far from the southern border, including New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Some were initially dismissive of the busing strategy, as reported by NPR in February. Now, observers are slowly acknowledging that the busing has put left-wing politicos on the defensive in terms of border policy and created some disagreement among congressional Democrats, as reported by NBC News.
“What you’re seeing with these numbers is that some of the blowback is from communities that feel like they’re now competing for resources, competing for services with those folks,” political strategist Brendan Steinhauser told NBC News about the reaction from sanctuary cities. “It’s now hitting the Democratic Party in a Democratic-run city and creating a wedge within the Democratic Party.”
With self-declared sanctuary cities getting a taste of the overwhelming pressure Texas border towns have been facing, some observers have asked what it would take for Abbott to stop busing the migrants.
“Until President Biden does his job and secures the border, Texas will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities to provide much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border towns,” the governor’s spokesperson, Renae Eze, told NBC News.
The situation has put some Democrats at odds with one another. The State of Illinois and the City of Chicago, for example, are in disagreement about where to house the thousands of migrants coming from Texas, per NBC News. The crisis has even reportedly caused the Biden administration to reconsider its opposition to a border wall.
However, Democrats still had strong words for Abbott.
“I don’t think it’s a stroke of genius, I think it’s a stroke of cruelty,” Anne Caprara, chief of staff to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, said when told that supporters of the busing policy are calling it a “stroke of genius,” per NBC News. “I’d have a lot more sympathy for Greg Abbott if he approached this in a way of, ‘We’re running out of capacity in Texas, and we’re incapable of handling this, so we need help. And so we’re going to coordinate’ … as opposed to the stunts, the not being willing to coordinate, not being willing to talk, not being able to try to help accommodate these people in a way that makes sense.”
