Texas Governor Greg Abbott faced harsh criticism after he bused migrants to Washington DC.
The governor of Texas, who is facing reelection but won his primary election last month, delivered a bus of undocumented immigrants to the nation’s capital on Monday when a bus full of migrants parked in front of the building that houses Fox News, NBC News and C-Span’s offices.
American Enterprise Institute emeritus scholar Norman Ornstein, who tracks political polarisation, did not mince words in his criticism.
“This is kidnapping across state lines. The Justice Department, via the US Attorney in Texas, should prosecute Abbott and everyone connected to this scheme,” he tweeted.
One report from the conservative network Newsmax showed that some of the migrants knew they they were being used as a political prop but saw the trip to Washington as a means to go to Miami.
The Independent has reached out to Mr Abbott’s office for comment.
Incidentally, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, also a Republican, pledged to send immigrants that he said were “dumped” into the Sunshine State into President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware. Specifically, Mr DeSantis cited the Biden administration’s decision to end Title 42, a Trump-era action put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic that severely restricted migration across the US-Mexico border.
“If Biden is dumping people, which he has dumped people, they fly them in at two in the morning,” Mr DeSantis said last week. “They haven’t done it lately, but they did it many months ago. We now have money where we can reroute them to sanctuary states like Delaware — and we’re gonna do that — to make sure we’re keeping people safe here.”
Democratic candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, criticised Mr Abbott’s move as well.
“We can elect a governor who cares more about people than politics,” he said.
The move comes also as Mr Abbott has ordered the state’s Department of Public Safety to inspect trucks crossing the US-Mexico border, which caused long lines at the border.
