The Democratic-controlled Texas city of El Paso along the southern border is sending more illegal immigrants to New York and Chicago than a highly publicized effort by the state of Texas to send migrants to those cities.
Reuters reported that El Paso, Texas, has bused 7,000 illegal immigrants to New York City since late August and more than 1,800 to Chicago. That outpaces the bussing undertaken by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has sent over 3,000 illegal immigrants to New York City and at least 920 to Chicago.
El Paso officials say the buses were needed because up to 2,000 migrants were arriving daily, including impoverished Venezuelans without family in the United States to pay for onward travel.
Gov. Abbott has also sent over 8,200 illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C., including as recently as Thursday when a busload of migrants was dropped off not far from the home of Vice President Kamala Harris.
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A Customs and Border Protection bus drops off dozens of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, at the City of El Paso’s migrant welcome center Sept. 22, 2022.
(Fox News Digital)
The Biden administration has been a vocal critic of Republican governors attempting to shine a spotlight on the record influx of illegal immigration at the southern border by sending migrants to liberal strongholds in the north.
“What they are doing is an illegal stunt, is a political stunt,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last month about Abbott and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis sending illegal immigrants north. “And it’s really just disrespectful to humanity. It doesn’t afford them any dignity, what they’re doing when you are abandoning families and children in a place where they were told they were going to get housing.
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“It is just cruel, and it’s not about the process. Actually, It’s about a political tool or political stunt that they’re moving forward with.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the migrant bussing out of El Paso, Texas.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tours the U.S.-Mexico border at the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, May 23, 2022.
(Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images)
“These hypocritical sanctuary city mayors are selectively attacking Texas’ bussing operation while conveniently ignoring migrants being bussed by Democrat-led El Paso and flown by President Biden,” Renae Eze, press secretary for Gov. Abbott, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“Gov. Abbott launched the border bus mission back in April to help provide support to our Texas border communities, who were pleading for help as the Biden administration dumped migrants in their towns. Instead of complaining about a few thousand migrants, collectively, being bussed into their self-declared sanctuary cities, Mayor Adams, Bowser and Lightfoot should call on their party leader, President Biden, to take immediate action to secure the border — something the president continues failing to do.”
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, said the city’s program is “completely different” than the Republican bussing efforts and that the city seeks to “treat people with respect.”
Leeser added that the migrant bussing, which began last year but picked up when illegal immigration surged at the border, is coordinated with the state of New York and that El Paso is seeking reimbursement from the federal government for the travel expenses.
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“This is a federal issue,” Leeser said. “They’re not coming to El Paso, they’re coming to the United States.”
Reuters contributed to this report.