Texas officials on Wednesday transported a group of Latin American migrants and asylum seekers recently released from federal custody in Washington, DC, as part of an intensive effort by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to curtail government policies. They live along the US-Mexico border.
Twenty-four Migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were transported by bus from the Texas border to the heart of the country’s capital, where they were dropped off by state officials, Abbott’s office said. Migrants had previously been prosecuted and released by federal border officials to continue their asylum cases in the US
For many of the migrants, their arrival in the country’s capital after a 30-hour bus ride paid for by Texas was a stopover on their journey to other destinations in the United States where they have family or friends, according to the sister. Sharlet Wagner of the Catholic Charitable Organizations of the Archdiocese of Washington.
“They’re moving to other cities. They don’t choose to stay in Washington, DC,” Wagner told CBS News, noting that his group struggled to receive migrants after realizing their arrival Tuesday night.
Citing his conversation with Venezuelan asylum seekers, Wagner said migrants knew they would be transported to Washington and that travel was not mandatory. “Even though he was a volunteer, they thought it was the only way out of Texas,” he said. “I don’t know how many options they were given.”
Wagner said his group is providing food for migrants and a change of clothes and buying bus tickets to their respective destinations, noting that they cannot board trains or planes because they do not have valid documents. Wagner said he attended 13 migrants Wednesday morning.
“They come very tired and hungry,” he said. “So they’re looking at another 40-hour bus ride, having arrived with the clothes on their backs and no change of clothes.”
For two years, U.S. border agents have been deporting the vast majority of Mexican and Central American adult migrants to Mexico or their countries of origin without processing their asylum applications, citing a pandemic restriction known as Title 42.
However, the Biden administration has struggled to apply Title 42 to many migrants, in part because Mexico in general only accepts the return of its citizens and nationals from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Tense diplomatic relations with the authoritarian governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela also severely limit US deportations to these countries. As a result, migrant adults and families in these countries are sent to long-term detention centers or released on notice to appear in court.
The transportation of migrants to Washington is the latest initiative by Republican officials in Texas in a broader effort to challenge the Biden administration, which they have accused of lax border enforcement.
Texas has filed numerous lawsuits against the Biden administration’s immigration agenda, convincing conservative federal judges in the state to disrupt various programs and even revive Trump-era policies, including a rule that forces migrants to wait for their asylum hearings in Mexico.
Abbott has also authorized the detention of migrants on charges of state invasion, deployed national guards on the southern border, stopped licensing federal shelters for migrant children, and ordered Texas officials to stop vehicles suspected of being transported. migrants and has ordered state inspections of commercial trucks.
GO NAKAMURA / REUTERS
Texas said the migrant bus effort is a response to the Biden administration’s decision end the expulsions of title 42 in late May, a prospect that alarmed Republicans and several centrist Democrats who do not believe U.S. border officials are ready for a sharp rise in migrant arrivals once the rule is lifted.
“One thing that is perfectly clear is that the Biden administration and many congressional leaders have no idea what chaos they have caused by their open border policies,” Abbott told a news conference Wednesday. “And they refuse to go down and see first hand and talk to the people who are really most affected. And if they don’t come to the border, I’ll take them to the border in Washington, DC.”
Abbott promised that “there will be more [migrants] who will arrive by bus or plane “in the country’s capital, but declined to offer a specific number of planned trips.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said migrants who are not transferred to detention centers are still under expulsion proceedings and are expected to attend court hearings. While waiting for these hearings, DHS said, “they are allowed to travel elsewhere voluntarily.”
“Through its Southwest Border Coordination Center, DHS is implementing carefully designed plans to manage the processing and transportation of noncitizens arriving at the border,” said DHS spokesman Eduardo Silva. “The interest of any individual state in assisting in the execution of our plans must be carefully coordinated with us.”
During her briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki echoed DHS comments, saying migrants are free to come to DC.
“All of these are migrants who have been prosecuted [Customs and Border Protection] and they are free to travel, so it is good that the state of Texas is helping them reach their final destination while they wait for the outcome of their immigration proceedings and they are all in the process of immigration, ”Psaki said.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the Maryland-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said migrants are being used as “political pawns” to make a “brazen publicity stunt.”
“After the dangerous journey they have made to seek security and opportunity, they certainly do not deserve to be subjected to a carefully coordinated political ploy,” Vignarajah said.
Abbott’s office and Texas state agencies did not immediately respond to various questions about the bus effort, such as how many buses are expected to arrive in Washington, DC, and the accommodations provided to migrants during the trip. a few hours.
Abbott’s bus campaign is his second effort to challenge the Biden administration’s border policies this month. On April 6, he ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to conduct “enhanced security inspections” of commercial trucks crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
The move has hampered cross-border traffic in Texas and led to the closure of some of the busiest international border crossings due to protests by truckers thwarted by additional inspections, federal officials said.
JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ / REUTERS
He has also angered the White House, business leaders and even Texas Republican Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who described the truck inspection directive as a “catastrophic policy” that would increase the cost of food and aggravate it. supply chain shortages.
While Abbott has suggested that his “enhanced” inspection directive is designed to curb drug and migrant trafficking, state authorities are only allowed to check for mechanical problems in trucks. All trucks entering the U.S. through ports of entry are inspected by CBP to ensure they do not pass migrants, illicit drugs, or prohibited products and food.
On Wednesday, Abbott announced he had ordered a halt to improved truck inspections near the port of entry connecting Texas and the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, citing a new security deal with his counterpart there.
But Abbott said state truck inspections will continue along other border crossings in Texas until Mexican officials in other states agree on similar agreements to bolster security measures.
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- Immigration
- US Customs and Border Protection
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