Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott vowed Thursday that he would continue transporting migrants out of the Lone Star State “until we have a new president.”
Abbott, 66, explained the origins of the bus program and why he decided to send more than 40,000 migrants to New York — which he said was not initially part of the plan — in a speech at the Republican Party of New York’s annual gala in New York. Manhattan.
The governor said he decided to start busing migrants out of Texas after local officials expressed concern about the number of migrants being apprehended at the border and then being dropped off in their communities by federal authorities.
Abbott claimed that initially the plan was to only bus migrants to Washington, D.C., because “neither Joe Biden nor the border czar (Vice President Kamala Harris) had actually been to the border to see the chaos and the costs.”
“So my thought process was: If they don’t want to cross the border, we’re going to bring the border to them,” he explained.
The governor claimed he expanded the bus program to include New York City only after receiving criticism from Mayor Eric Adams.
“It literally came out of nowhere that Eric Adams started criticizing me for sending them to New York,” Abbott recalled.
“We were clear in contacting his office and saying, ‘We’re not sending them to New York.’ We have issued press releases saying that we are not sending migrants to New York, but that Joe Biden is sending them to New York.
Abbott claimed that when the criticism from New York officials didn’t stop, he decided that “if I want to take the criticism, I want to get the credit.”
“Thus began the busing of illegal immigrants to the sanctuary city of New York.”
A spokesperson for Adams disputed Abbott’s assertion and the chronology from when the bus program expanded to New York.
More than 107,000 migrants have been bused out of the Lone Star State since April 2022, according to Abbott’s office.
“We are going to have to continue this process until we have a new president next November who will secure the border of the United States of America,” Abbott promised.
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 GOP nominee, has proposed choosing Abbott as his running mate, but the governor has downplayed any interest in the role.
In his opening speech to Republican officials in the Empire State, Abbott denounced Biden’s border policies, arguing that the 81-year-old commander in chief’s decision to eliminate measures aimed at curbing illegal immigration implemented Trump’s actions have led to “chaos” and created an “extraordinarily dangerous” situation.
“Texas is the starting point for Joe Biden’s broken border policy,” Abbott said.
“You know, the chaos that we’ve seen across the country – it seems like it’s been going on for so long that we can so easily forget that just four years ago we had the lowest number of illegal border crossings in 45 years. he added, praising Trump for implementing “Remain in Mexico” and Title 42, eliminating “catch and release” and building more walls along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Abbott noted that the Biden administration has phased out all of these measures, leading to “the equivalent of the entire population of New York” entering the United States illegally over the past three years.
“Time records have been set for the number of people on terrorist watch lists who have been apprehended” at the border, Abbott said.
“What none of us knows right now is how many terrorists on the watch list have escaped detection,” he warned.
Abbott suggested that when Biden claims he needs Congress to pass legislation to secure the border, the president is either “lying,” has “no idea what he’s talking about,” or both.
“The executive branch has not only the authority but also the obligation, the mandate of Congress, to deny illegal entry into the United States. Biden doesn’t do that.
“He aids and abets illegal entry into the United States.”
New York Post
