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EL PASO – Officials from this Texas border city thought they were responding correctly to a humanitarian crisis by asking the state for help in providing buses for migrants to travel north – only to meet a blistering pushback.
At issue was acceptance of funds from the administration of Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican up for re-election who has made “border security” a campaign issue that’s cost Texas taxpayers more than $12 million, just on busing migrants from the border to New York and Washington, D.C. Abbott’s challenger Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat, comes from El Paso, a predominately Democratic city of 680,000.
As word spread this week that city officials had turned to Abbott for financial help, other elected officials and nonprofit leaders caused an uproar. Monday, the state National Guard even showed up to process migrants. But buses were paused. A day later, the guard was gone.
“The optics didn’t look good, and I understand that,” said John Martin, the deputy director of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless. “We resumed the busing, but without any state funding, or help in any way.”
That was Monday night. But on Wednesday evening, a group of 48 migrants – all cleared by U.S. federal immigration authorities to travel legally – left El Paso for New York City. There was one change: On Thursday, the city walked back earlier comments that it had accepted a charter bus from the state, saying it was “preparing for the worst case scenario,” that never developed: the potential arrival of hundreds of migrants, explained Jorge Rodriguez, the coordinator for the City of El Paso Emergency Manager.
There were no plans for funding from Abbott, said Laura A. Cruz Acosta, spokeswoman for the city and county’s Office for Emergency Management. The money would come from the city and reimbursed later by the federal government through FEMA, the spokeswoman said.
Wednesday night, Abbott highlighted his busing strategy when a bus rolled into Chicago with a fresh attack on President Joe Biden and his “open-border policies.”
“President Biden’s inaction at our southern border continues putting the lives of Texans—and Americans—at risk and is overwhelming our communities,” Abbott said in a news release.
Abbott also took aim at Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat who has celebrated the city as a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees. Lightfoot shot back that Abbott’s busing policies were racist.
Abbott’s busing initiative has now widened into a national controversy among a Republican governor and Democratic mayors in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.