AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) touted the state’s accomplishment of busing more than 100,000 immigrants from the border to “sanctuary cities” nationwide, including top destinations New York City and Chicago.
The three-term Republican governor’s office announced the feat Friday and added that it does not plan to stop providing state-funded transportation for immigrants to travel north anytime soon.
“Until Biden does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue to hold the line,” Abbott said in a post to X.
Since it began in April 2022, approximately 105,000 immigrants have boarded the buses from various places along the Texas border following their release from federal Border Patrol custody after coming over the border illegally.
More than 39,600 immigrants have chosen to travel to New York City, followed by 32,500 who boarded buses to Chicago. Both cities have been busing destinations since mid-2022.
Denver is quickly becoming a top spot where immigrants are choosing to travel by the Texas buses. Since just May, more than 16,900 immigrants have embarked to Colorado.
Another 12,500 immigrants have gone to Washington, D.C., since April 2022, which was the first destination in the governor’s initiative.
Nearly 3,500 people have headed to Philadelphia and 1,500 to Los Angeles.
“To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed by hoards of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden administration, Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to Washington, D.C.,” Abbott said during a press conference at the start of the busing effort in April 2022.
“We are sending them to the United States’s capital, where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border,” Abbott added.
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City officials in the “sanctuary” cities, which are areas that refuse to turn over illegal immigrants arrested for regular crimes to federal immigration officials, have been on the receiving end of Abbott’s action.
Cities such as New York have urged immigrants not to head their way, saying they do not have the funding or housing to put people up while they await their immigration court hearings, often years in the future.
