“Gov. Abbott is bar-coding people and treating them as less than human, as if they were cattle,” said Manuel Castro, the city’s Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs. “I was incredibly shocked when I saw children with bracelets and bar codes and security personnel treating them as less than human beings.”
For weeks, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (A-Butt) has sent bus loads of migrants to NYC. But on Wednesday, city official, Manuel Castro, noticed that asylum seekers getting off the bus from Texas had wristbands with a barcode on them, which were apparently were put on them in Texas and then cut off as they disembarked at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
According to CBS New York:
CBS2’s Marcia Kramer asked Commissioner Castro why he believes the men, women and children were wearing the bar-coded bracelets on the trip from Texas.
“It appears to us that asylum seekers are being asked to wear these bracelets with these bar codes to intimidate them, to scare them into remaining on these buses until they arrive in New York City,” Castro said.
As a political stunt, A-Butt “has sent busloads of asylum seekers from Texas border towns to New York City for weeks to bring attention to the migrant crisis affecting his state. The policy has severely taxed New York City services, as officials struggle to find housing, food and clothing for the new arrivals.”
