Chris Lange, FISM News
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For the second day in a row, a bus carrying illegal immigrants from the Del Rio sector in Texas arrived in Washington, D.C. early Thursday morning after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last week announced plans to transport migrants from his state’s southern border to the nation’s capital.
A Fox News reporter on the scene said 14 migrants stepped off the bus near Union Station on First Street just before 5:00 a.m. where they were met by members of a Catholic charity. Capitol Police also arrived around the same time to ask questions, according to the report.
A busload arrived at the same location Wednesday morning carrying migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) said it coordinated with officials to identify the migrants over the weekend before transporting them to Washington D.C.
The legality of the governor’s decision to send illegal aliens to other states remains in question. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 ruled that states are not authorized to make their own immigration policies. Abbott, however, said his actions are necessary because the federal government continues to fail to adequately address the border crisis.
“Texans demand and deserve an aggressive, comprehensive strategy to secure our border—not President Biden’s lackluster leadership,” Abbott said in a statement Wednesday. “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,” he continued.
Abbott has also instructed the state to charter flights to transport migrants to the nation’s capital after they have been processed by the Department of Homeland Security, The Texas Tribune reported.
“President Biden must assert the National Security priority that comes with being Commander in Chief. Until then Texas will use its own strategies to secure the border…” – Gov. @GregAbbott_TX pic.twitter.com/MABpf0IyHL
— Texans for Abbott (@AbbottCampaign) April 13, 2022
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who previously called Abbott’s directive a “publicity stunt,” said migrants arriving in D.C. from Texas “have been processed” by Customs and Border Patrol and “are free to travel.” The remark was made during a Wednesday press briefing in response to a reporter’s question.
“So, it’s nice the state of Texas is helping them get to their final destination as they await in — their outcome of their immigration proceedings,” Psaki continued, smiling, then added, “And they’re all in immigration proceedings.”
A reporter also asked if the White House is now blaming the Texas governor for inflation, referring to a statement released by Psaki earlier in the day in which she accuses Abbott of “raising prices for families in Texas and across the country” by conducting “unnecessary and redundant inspections” of trucks crossing the border from Mexico.
“Well, I think we’re trying to state the facts of what his — another political stunt that we’re seeing happen and the impact of it,” Psaki replied.
The Biden administration announced last month that it would rescind Title 42, a Trump-era immigration rule that allowed for the expulsion of illegal immigrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics of the impending repeal, which goes into effect May 23, say the action will create a massive new surge of illegal immigration into the U.S., which the administration has acknowledged. A bipartisan group of senators last week introduced a measure to block the repeal.
Abbott, who has been an outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s refusal to enforce border policies, is seeking reelection in November in the historically red Lone Star state. He is likely to face Democratic challenger and failed 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke.
“If Abbott focused on solutions instead of stunts, then Texas could have made some real progress on the issue over the last seven years,” O’Rourke said last week.
Texas has borne the brunt of the record-breaking influx of illegal immigrants since Biden took office. Border agents in the state also face increased danger with a corresponding uptick in encounters with drug cartels, human traffickers, and repeated exposure to massive quantities of deadly Fentanyl that flow through the border on a near-daily basis.