Abbott on plan to bus migrants to D.C.: 'Texas will immediately begin taking unprecedented action'

As part of the state's efforts to address the crisis at the southern border, Gov. Greg Abbott launched a new plan Wednesday (April 6) to place migrants on buses and send them to Washington, D.C., a press release issued by the governor's office said. The move is in response to the Biden administration's decision to scrap Title 42 next month. 

Abbott said the Biden administration's open-border policies have enabled cartels "to pour into the U.S." He asserted that the elimination of Title 42 will worsen the problem.

"With the end of Title 42 expulsions looming next month, Texas will immediately begin taking unprecedented action to do what no state has done in American history to secure our border," the governor, a Republican, said in the release. "The new strategies announced today and next week will further strengthen our already robust response to the Biden border disaster, and we will use any and all lawful powers to curtail the flow of drugs, human traffickers, illegal immigrants, weapons and other contraband into Texas."

According to the governor's office, Abbott made the announcement in Weslaco, which is five miles from Progreso, Mexico, and was accompanied by Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steve McCraw, Adjutant General of Texas Major General Thomas Suelzer and Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) Chief Nim Kidd.

The release said that Abbott cited the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) projection of up to 18,000 migrant apprehensions daily after the revocation of Title 42, a public health authority implemented by the Trump administration which bars migrants at the border from entering the country for asylum in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 in his announcement.

"We have more people who will potentially be crossing our border illegally by the end of this year than live in Los Angeles, America's second largest city," Abbott said, according to Austin ABC affiliate KVUE.

The governor added that the Biden administration is transporting migrants from the border to other cities in Texas that lack the resources to address the problem.