Texas Drops off First Bus of Migrants by the US Capitol in Washington, DC

On Wednesday morning, a bus from Texas arrived in Washinton, D.C., carrying dozens of illegal migrants as part of Gov. Gregg Abbott’s new plan to oppose federal immigration policies while the border crisis is ongoing.

The Texas governor announced last week that he would instruct the Texas Division of Emergency Management to transport illegal migrants who have been released from federal custody in the state to the U.S. capital and other locations outside of Texas.

The bus arrived in D.C. at around 8 a.m. local time, just a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol building. As per Fox News, the migrants came from Texas’ Del Rio sector following their attempt to enter the country from Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

When the bus arrived in D.C., the people in it disembarked one by one, apart from family units who did so together. They talked with officials and had the wristbands they had cut off prior to being told that they could go.

As per TDEM, Abbott’s plan is working. On Monday, the agency spoke with Fox News and said that a lot of the communities that originally reached out for support are saying that the federal government already halted dropping off immigrants in their towns since the Texas governor’s announcement on April 6.

Some had questioned how genuine Abbott’s plan is to bus migrants. The White House called it a “publicity stunt,” while Abbott’s fellow Republican, Rep. Matt Schaefer of Texas, described it as a “gimmick.”

According to TDEM, it dispatched buses to border communities over the weekend, where the agency coordinated with officials in identifying the immigrants. TDEM also said that each bus has the capacity and enough supplies to transport up to 40 migrants from Texas communities to Washington, D.C.

Abbott's Bus Drop Program in Question

However, Abbott’s legal authority to enact this program is still in question. Arizona v. the United States, a 2012 case in the supreme court, bars states from creating their own immigration policies.

The Texas governor, however, says that the federal government fails to adequately handle the situation at the border. Recently, Pres. Joe Biden revealed that he plans to rescind Title 42, a policy used to quickly expel migrants because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Texans demand and deserve an aggressive, comprehensive strategy to secure our border—not President Biden's lackluster leadership,” the Texas governor said in a statement. “As the federal government continues to roll back commonsense policies that once kept our communities safe, our local law enforcement has stepped up to protect Texans from dangerous criminals, deadly drugs, and illegal contraband flooding into the Lone Star State.”

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