Texas Gov. Greg Abbot says the state has bused 35K migrants to sanctuary cities

Texas has bused more than 35,000 migrants to so-called sanctuary cities — including over 13,000 to New York City — in response to the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott revealed Tuesday. 

Abbott launched the migrant busing program in April 2022 in an effort to force blue states to share the burden that Texas has faced as a result of record numbers of illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers crossing the border from Mexico into the US since President Biden took office. 

“Texas has bused over 35,000 migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities,” Abbott tweeted Tuesday, including a breakdown of which cities have received the most migrants. 

“Over 11,300 to DC, Over 13,300 to NYC, Over 6,700 to Chicago, Over 2,600 to Philadelphia, Over 1,000 to Denver, Over 480 to LA,” the governor noted. 

The totals released by Abbott Tuesday represent an increase of more than 12,000 since the state last updated the number of migrants that have been bused out of state under Operation Lone Star – a state border security and burden sharing effort launched by the governor in 2021.

In June, Abbott reported that the over 500 buses Texas has sent to sanctuary cities removed 22,650 migrants from the Lone Star State. 

“Our busing mission provides critical relief to overwhelmed Texas border towns,” Abbott argued in his Tuesday tweet, which came one day after the 12th bus of migrants since June arrived in Los Angeles from Texas. 

The influx of migrants in blue states, many far from the southern border, has created strife between Democratic state and local officials and the Biden administration. 

In Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser called on Biden, a fellow Democrat, to mobilize the National Guard in August of last year to provide aid and shelter for migrants arriving from Texas – a request that was declined by the Biden administration. 

New York City’s surging migrant population, which is set to double by June 2024, has overwhelmed city resources, including schools and shelters, and Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has called on the 80-year-old president to act on the crisis more than three dozen times.

Last month, New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul demanded that Biden address the issue in her first public appeal to the White House since the crisis began in Spring 2022. 

“This crisis originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved through the federal government,” Hochul said in remarks made on Aug. 24, revealing that her demands were sent to the president in a letter.

She stopped short of urging the White House to declare a state of emergency, which Adams has repeatedly called for since last year.