TX Gov. Abbott announces plan to bus, fly illegal immigrants to D.C. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on June 22, 2020. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman/TNS)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Wednesday that his state will send illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C. on charter buses and planes. The move comes after President Joe Biden’s administration announced an upcoming end to pandemic-era expulsions, which officials believe could lead to a flood of more than 500,000 illegal immigrants every month.
“To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed by hordes 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 on Wednesday.
“We are sending them to the United States 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,” he continued. “The first location will be the steps of the United States Capitol.”
The Texas Division of Emergency Management will also provide flights to transport illegal immigrants to the capital after they have been processed and released from federal custody.
Last week, Department of Homeland Security officials told reporters that the department is anticipating a worst-case scenario of 12,000 to 18,000 illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border every day, totaling up to 540,000 monthly.
Abbott slammed the Biden administration for having “no plan for addressing the anticipated surge of illegal immigrants.”
“The Biden Administration’s open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous cartels and deadly drugs to pour into the United States, and this crisis will only be made worse by ending Title 42 expulsions,” Abbott said in a statement.
“With the end of Title 42 expulsions looming next month, Texas will immediately begin taking unprecedented action to do what no state has done in American history to secure our border,” he added. “The new strategies announced today and next week will further strengthen our already robust response to the Biden border disaster, and we will use any and all lawful powers to curtail the flow of drugs, human traffickers, illegal immigrants, weapons, and other contraband into Texas.”
Abbott’s actions to address the influx of illegal immigrants also include “preparing additional boat blockades, deploying razor-wire at low-water crossings and high-traffic areas, and installing container blockades to stem the flow of illegal crossings.”
In FY21, Biden’s DHS topped 1.73 million illegal immigrant arrests, breaking the previous record from 1986 when officials recorded 1.69 million apprehensions nationwide.
