Texas sent its first busload of migrants to Los Angeles on Wednesday as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign to make “sanctuary cities” feel the pain of the current border surge.
Mr. Abbott, a Republican, said the migrants were dropped off at Union Station.
“Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status,” the governor said. “Our border communities are on the frontlines of President Biden’s border crisis, and Texas will continue providing this much-needed relief until he steps up to do his job and secure the border.”
Mr. Abbott began shipping migrants out of Texas last year, first dropping them off near the Capitol in Washington. He then added New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Denver to his target list.
He said more than 21,600 migrants have been shipped out of Texas using state resources since the first busload in April 2022.
Leaders in the receiving cities — all Democratic strongholds — have complained bitterly about the busing, insisting that the thousands of migrants they are getting are overwhelming their services.
Mr. Abbott says that’s the point.
He said Texas is getting hit much harder than any of those cities by the record number of illegal immigrants that have poured into the country since Mr. Biden took office. Moving some of them to sanctuary cities was intended to share the burden.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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