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https://www.npr.org/2024/02/20/1232651088/texas-has-spent-over-148-million-busing-migrants-to-other-parts-of-the-country
In April 2022, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced his state was going to start transporting to other states migrants who had been released from federal custody. He said he was doing it to prevent the state from shouldering "the burdens imposed by open-border advocates in other parts of the country."
Nearly two years later, Texas has transported over 102,000 migrants to New York, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
But the initiative has also come with a hefty price tag. Records obtained by The Texas Newsroom under the Texas Public Information Act show that as of Jan. 24, the state has spent over $148 million to bus migrants to predominantly Democratic cities. The price tag grows every day.
Life-changing program for migrants
It depends who you ask.
J. is a 34-year-old migrant from Venezuela who left his country in January 2022. NPR is not using his full name because J. says he's worried about being targeted by immigration enforcement for speaking out.
"I spent New Year's Eve with my family, and on New Year's Day I was ready to leave," he said in Spanish.
J. left Venezuela on Jan. 2, 2022. He had no money with him, and carried a backpack with a few clothing items.
The whole journey to the U.S. took him about two months. It included crossing the Darién Gap — the dangerous jungle between Colombia and Panama. J. eventually crossed the Rio Grande River into Del Río, Texas. That's when he was processed by Border Patrol and he says men wearing military-style uniforms offered him a free bus to Washington, D.C.
"I was scared because I kept asking, 'Are they actually going to take us to Washington?" he said.
He arrived in D.C. three days later.
The bus J. took was paid by Texas as part of Gov. Abbott's Operation Lone Star border security initiative.
In April 2022, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced his state was going to start transporting to other states migrants who had been released from federal custody. He said he was doing it to prevent the state from shouldering "the burdens imposed by open-border advocates in other parts of the country."
Nearly two years later, Texas has transported over 102,000 migrants to New York, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
But the initiative has also come with a hefty price tag. Records obtained by The Texas Newsroom under the Texas Public Information Act show that as of Jan. 24, the state has spent over $148 million to bus migrants to predominantly Democratic cities. The price tag grows every day.
Life-changing program for migrants
It depends who you ask.
J. is a 34-year-old migrant from Venezuela who left his country in January 2022. NPR is not using his full name because J. says he's worried about being targeted by immigration enforcement for speaking out.
"I spent New Year's Eve with my family, and on New Year's Day I was ready to leave," he said in Spanish.
J. left Venezuela on Jan. 2, 2022. He had no money with him, and carried a backpack with a few clothing items.
The whole journey to the U.S. took him about two months. It included crossing the Darién Gap — the dangerous jungle between Colombia and Panama. J. eventually crossed the Rio Grande River into Del Río, Texas. That's when he was processed by Border Patrol and he says men wearing military-style uniforms offered him a free bus to Washington, D.C.
"I was scared because I kept asking, 'Are they actually going to take us to Washington?" he said.
He arrived in D.C. three days later.
The bus J. took was paid by Texas as part of Gov. Abbott's Operation Lone Star border security initiative.
