Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Vows To Keep Busing Migrants To Northern Cities – But Doesn’t Have Enough People To Send

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) vowed to continue busing migrants to progressive cities up north but does not have enough migrants to send.

Abbott made this promise during the RNC last month. “We have continued busing migrants to sanctuary cities across the country,” he told the cheering crowd in Milwaukee. “And those buses will continue to roll until we finally secure our border.”

However, an investigation from NBC News discovered that many major progressive cities, which previously received migrants sent by the Texas governor, have not received any buses at all in 2024, as the number of people crossing the border declined drastically in the past few months.

Washington D.C., New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago received no buses from Texas this year in 2024 after Abbott had previously targeted all those cities.

Abbott started sending asylum seekers to sanctuary cities in 2022 as part of Operation Lone Star, an $11 billion program created to address the migrant increase in Texas.

In January, Abbott declared that he sent 100,000 people to many cities, including 37,100 people to New York City and 30,800 to Chicago. In February, it was revealed that Texas spent $148 million on the effort.

In May, there were almost 117,000 unauthorized crossings by people into the U.S., more than half of the record high in December 2023 – 300,000. 

In June, the number dropped even more to almost 84,000 and nearly 60,000 in July, the lowest monthly total since 2021.

However, officials in other states stated that buses have not arrived since January. 

A spokesman for Abbott said the governor’s actions contributed to the decline in people crossing into the country.

“Texas has decreased illegal crossings into the state by 85% thanks to our historic border mission,” the spokesman stated. “Fewer illegal crossings into Texas means fewer buses are departing for sanctuary cities.”

However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection associated the change with an executive order limiting immigration.

The order directed border agents to close the border to Mexico for people not authorized to enter U.S. when the number of asylum seekers increased above a daily threshold of 2,500, with the border reopening when the number fell under 1,500.

Another reason for this decline can be due to a Mexican operation’s crackdown on immigration.

It witnessed Mexican security forces set up new checkpoints on roads, increase patrols, and, in some cases, remove migrants from freight trains headed toward the U.S. border.

During a visit to a town on the U.S.-Mexico border in November 2023, Abbott vowed to continue his border policies. 

In late May, Abbott issued a pardon to Daniel Perry, the former United States Army sergeant who fatally shot an armed demonstrator during a Black Lives Matter protest back in 2020.

Abbott announced the pardon on May 16, minutes after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles disclosed that it unanimously suggested that Perry be pardoned and reinstated his firearms rights.