The Republican governor vowed to send illegal immigrants who cross the Texas border to Washington D.C. as a push back against the Biden administration's immigration policies.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took to a press conference in Weslaco, Texas, on Wednesday to denounce the Biden administration's changing immigration policies. The Biden administration is currently looking to revoke Title 42, a measure that allows immigration officials to turn away immigrants over COVID concerns. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that it would end Title 42 on May 23 because of "current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19."
This did not sit well with the Republican governor, whose state is bearing the brunt of the immigrant surge. Gov. Abbott decided on Wednesday to that his administration must help its local officials whose communities are being "overwhelmed by hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden administration," the Christian Post reported.
"Texas is providing charter buses to send illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to Washington, D.C.," Gov. Abbott declared. "We are sending them to the United States Capitol, where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border."
Gov. Abbott also announced that he assigned Chief Nim Kidd of the Texas Division of Emergency Management as the person "in charge of this operation." Kidd, who also appeared at the press conference on Wednesday, reported his team has already begun coordinating with local officials to establish pickup location points. He added that resources have also been ordered to implement the plan as early as this week.
Gov. Abbott reported that border cities have been struggling with the mass of illegal immigrants in their communities and have been transporting them to San Antonio. The Republican leader said that "a better idea" would be to "continue the ride all the way to Washington, D.C." instead of taking them on buses to San Antonio.
Kidd added that in previous disasters, they utilized up to 900 buses to evacuate people. Likewise, he pledged to use "as many buses as we need to follow the governor's direction to get this done" and drop off immigrants at "the steps of the United States Capitol."
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas last week defended the CDC's decision to revoke Title 42, arguing that the federal government was in fact prepared to handle the surge of immigrants that would result from this. He said, "We have put in place a comprehensive, whole-of-government strategy to manage any potential increase in the number of migrants encountered at our border."
This week, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri blasted the Biden administration for the migrant surge, probing Mayorkas on reports that said the department is using Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to treat illegal immigrants who are sick, Fox News reported. Hawley said that the reports "demand answers" from Mayorkas and his agency.
