Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Wednesday that he had bussed a group of migrants to Los Angeles for the first time, adding yet another blue state destination to the stunt he and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) have been using to out-MAGA one another and score political points — all at the expense of vulnerable migrants.
“The first bus of migrants from Texas has arrived in Los Angeles,” Abbott tweeted Wednesday afternoon, vowing, in a statement, once again, that the state will keep sending “migrants to sanctuary cities like LA until [President Biden] secures the border.”
Between Abbott and DeSantis, millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent to transport thousands of migrants to Democratic-led cities, like Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and, most recently, Denver.
Abbott’s new stop comes just days after DeSantis transported a group of asylum- seekers from Texas to Sacramento, leading to staunch criticism and threats of prosecution from California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Attorney General Rob Bonta.
DeSantis addressed the issue last week, blaming “sanctuary jurisdictions” for the rise in migration.
“When they have to deal with some of the fruits of that, they all of a sudden become very, very upset about that,” DeSantis said during a visit to Arizona’s southern border.
The group of 42 people, including eight children, that Abbott bussed arrived in LA after a 23-hour bus ride without food, Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of communications for immigrant rights group CHIRLA, told the Los Angeles Times.
“It is abhorrent that an American elected official is using human beings as pawns in his cheap political games,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement, adding that the city was prepared to be at the “receiving end of a despicable stunt that Republican governors have grown so fond of.”
“Los Angeles is not a city motivated by hate or fear and we absolutely will not be swayed or moved by petty politicians playing with human lives,” Bass said.
