More than 2,500 migrants from Texas and Arizona have been bussed to Washington, D.C., since April, according to a new report.
The Washington Examiner confirmed that the migrants had been transported to the nation’s capital on at least 79 busses authorized by the GOP governors of the two states.
“These people are wanting to go somewhere else. They’re not wanting to stay in Arizona,” Morgan Carr, spokeswoman for Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ), said in a statement to the outlet. “From what we’re seeing, they’re all primarily [headed to] the East Coast.”
Arizona officials confirmed 14 buses carrying 523 migrants since the effort began in mid-May.
“This is a problem caused by Washington. We’re bringing it to Washington, and we expect Washington to foot the bill. We’re going to send them a bill,” Ducey spokesman C.J. Karamargin previously told the Washington Examiner.
In Texas, 65 buses carrying more than 2,000 migrants have been sent to the nation’s capital since mid-April, according to the report.
Once the migrants are dropped off in D.C., local nonprofit groups often help them adjust to life in America.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott first announced plans to bus migrants ahead of the Biden administration’s plans to end Title 42 in early April.
“To help local officials – because communities are being overwhelmed by hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden Administration – Texas is providing charter buses for these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off to Washington, D.C.,” the Texas governor said.
“We are sending them to the United States capital 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,” he added.
Migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were included on the first bus from Texas that arrived just blocks from the U.S. Capitol in mid-April.
“By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden Administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border,” Abbott said in a statement regarding the operation, per the Texas Tribune. “Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administration’s failure to secure our border.”
Last month, Governor Abbott said in a news conference that his state could send thousands more migrants to Washington.
“We’re up to our 45th bus now; when you add a zero to that I think that Washington D.C. is going to soon find out they’re going to be dealing with the same consequences we’re dealing with,” he warned.
“One thing we know for a fact is that there are maybe as many as 100,000 migrants who are across the border waiting to cross into Texas,” Abbott noted earlier in the press conference. “The Biden administration seems to be letting in people whether they’re crossing through the port of entry or across the river.”
There were 201,800 encounters by U.S. Border Patrol agents along the southwest land border in April, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. May numbers were expected to surge even higher with the Biden administration’s plans to end enforcement of Title 42. However, a judge later ruled to temporarily delay the ending of the Trump-era policy.