Texas is sending more busloads of illegal immigrants to New York, whose governor says that the state has exceeded its capacity.
immigrants out of the state, adding two distressed border towns to the growing list of departure points for fleets of buses filled with illegal border-crossers.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Friday that he has directed the Texas Department of Emergency Management to deploy more buses to Eagle Pass and El Paso to transport those who illegally crossed the Texas-Mexico border to Democrat-led, self-proclaimed “sanctuary cities.”
The buses in Eagle Pass and El Paso are being activated in addition to the ongoing state bus operations in Brownsville, Del Rio, Laredo, and McAllen.
“President [Joe] Biden’s continued refusal to secure our border allows thousands of people to illegally cross into Texas and our country every day,” the Republican governor said, noting that the move provides “much-needed relief” to Texas communities “overwhelmed and overrun” by the border crisis.
“Until President Biden upholds his constitutional duty to secure America’s southern border, Texas will continue to deploy as many buses as needed to relieve the strain caused by the surge of illegal crossings.”
Border Towns at Breaking Point
The announcement comes as Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr., a Democrat, said more than 6,000 illegal immigrants have crossed into his city in just two days, and that thousands more are expected to to cross through in the coming days. The city itself has a population of only around 28,000.
“Nothing that we’ve seen ever really to have so many people crossing in without consequence and congregating at the international bridge,” the mayor told Texas Public Radio, after signing a seven-day emergency declaration to “request financial resources to provide the additional services” caused by the severe illegal immigrant influx.
Meanwhile, in El Paso, where a recent wave of illegal border crossing brought over 2,000 individuals per day, shelter capacity and other resources are being strained to “a breaking point,” city officials said. Just six weeks ago, the city was seeing about 350 to 400 people coming in per day.
By Bill Pan