The program sends migrants to other U.S. cities as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star” — a multibillion dollar initiative to slow down border crossings.

Texas has spent more than $124 million sending buses of migrants to sanctuary cities, according to records obtained by Nexstar.

According to documents Nexstar obtained, Texas has paid $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants from the state’s border communities to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as of Jan. 10. That equals out to 2,245 buses year to date, an average of 45 migrants per bus.

Nexstar obtained the documents through a public information request to the Texas Division of Emergency Management — the agency tasked with this initiative. The majority of the payments have been made to Wynne Transportation LLC, with a handful of payments made to Transportation Management Services Inc.

    • Bibliotectress@lemm.ee
      18·
      9 months ago

      Not who you asked, but this was so well documented in so many news articles that I thought it was basic knowledge. I googled it for you.

      https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-19/migrants-transported-california-texas-abbott-desantis

      Eight Venezuelan migrants were flown last week from Texas to Sacramento with little cash — some without shoes — and the men have no idea why they were sent or who paid for the flights, an advocacy group said.

      The men, who crossed the border in Laredo, Texas, had intentions to travel to New York, Florida or Utah and said they were confused as to why they were sent to California, where none of them had contacts or prospects.

      https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/15/greg-abbott-texas-kamala-harris-migrant-bus/

      Migrants landing in Martha’s Vineyard told reporters that they didn’t know where they were, that they thought they were going to different destinations or that they were lured on to the planes with the promise of being able to get work papers. Local officials said they were given no advanced warning about the migrants but would be providing resources to support them.

      https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/30/us/asylum-seekers-texas-city-mayors/index.html

      “Border Patrol will tell people that they can only wear one piece of clothing, so they strip themselves of their jackets and their warm clothing,” he said. “And that’s how from the point of contact with Border Patrol, to the point of being released in Chicago, or New York, or wherever it might be, that’s how they are traveling, oftentimes without shoelaces, because they’re told that they have to remove them.”

      “He (Abbott) is now sending buses outside of the City of Chicago, in some instances, a hundred miles away where people are being dropped off … they’re being told they are in the City of Chicago, literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere,” Johnson said on “CNN This Morning” Friday. “I find that to be inhumane and unconscionable.”

      https://news.wttw.com/2023/12/20/texas-flies-150-migrants-chicago-private-plane-more-buses-expected-police-mayor-s-office

      City officials are working to ensure all of the migrants have a healthy and dignified place to live, and blamed Abbott for creating the conditions that led to the boy’s still-unexplained death, Johnson said. Many migrants arrive in Chicago sick and traumatized, he added.