Texas Gov. Greg Abbott raised $401,000 from private donations to help fund his operation to bus migrants from the southern border to Democratic-leaning cities.
The individual contributions to the Texas border transportation fund were made in late April through Oct. 28, according to documents obtained from a public records request. A majority of the donations were under $100 with the largest single donation $5,100.
The money raised is a trivial amount of the total cost of the governor’s initiative to transport thousands of migrants to Washington, New York and Chicago. Texas has spent more than $20 million from the state budget for the busing operation, according to a local TV outlet. Abbott’s office said the state has bused more than 12,700 migrants to the three Democratic-leaning cities since April, according to a statement from Oct. 28.
Abbott launched the busing program in the spring as part of a broader effort to bolster border security amid an influx of migrants. The Republican governor, reelected to a third term earlier this month, has criticized the Biden administration for policies that he says have led to the surge of unauthorized migration at the border.
Border security is one of the top issues for voters in Texas. In an August poll from the University of Texas/Texas Politics Project, more than half of Texans at least somewhat support state subsidized busing of asylum-seeking migrants to other parts of the country.
The governor’s office also has a separate donation page for the Texas border wall, launched last year. A Wyoming billionaire and member of the Mellon family donated $53 million to the wall fund in August 2021, which at the time was 98% of the fund’s total donations.
