NBC reports: Fewer buses from Texas have been arriving in blue cities since the start of the year because of a steep drop in the number of migrants apprehended at the border.
Republican National Convention delegates erupted in applause last month when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doubled down on his commitment to send buses full of migrants to blue cities.
“We have continued busing migrants to sanctuary cities all across the country,” Abbott told the cheering crowd in Milwaukee. “Those buses will continue to roll until we finally secure our border.”
The last buses sponsored by Abbott to leave Laredo and Brownsville rolled out in January, according to people familiar with the issue. And the number of buses leaving El Paso has fallen off sharply in the past few months, according to two nonprofits that serve migrants.
“The opportunity exists for buses every Wednesday if the need is there,” said Bill Irvin, of the nonprofit Opportunity Center for the Homeless. “And honestly, I have not had the need to use those buses from here for six to eight weeks. But that shows you how low the census has become amongst all of the shelters here in El Paso.”
But officials in multiple cities that had been receiving buses in the past said none have arrived from Texas since January. The last bus to reach Philadelphia arrived on Dec. 17 with 29 people from Del Rio, Texas, according to a spokesperson with the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. (NBC )
CBS states Abbott’s plans to flood Chicago with immigrants as the DNC in a week are in doubt. “Abbott has been shipping migrants to Chicago for two years. For almost as long, there has been an expectation he would use Chicago’s week in the spotlight for the DNC to double down.
“But the buses from Texas have slowed, and those studying the crisis say there are three reasons a full court press next week during the DNC is unlikely.
“There the facts have changed,” said Muzaffar Chishti of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. “December 2023 was the high-water mark of arrivals at the U.S. southern border—about 300,000.”
That 300,000 figure has now dropped to a three-year low of just over 83,000 in June.
