Much has been made about the number of migrants Texas has sent to Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence in Washington D.C., but the nation’s capital isn’t the only city to begrudgingly receive asylum seekers and refugees courtesy of the Lone Star State.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a tenth busload of migrants to Los Angeles on Saturday, despite L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’s condemnation of Abbott after the ninth bus departed for La-La Land just five days earlier.
Saturday’s bus provided 39 migrants, including 12 families and 21 children, with a lift to Southern California, according to Fox News Digital.
In June, the Los Angeles City Council voted to declare L.A. a sanctuary city, but after Abbott sent the ninth bus as Tropical Storm Hillary was bearing down on the City of Angels, Bass voiced her fury.
“LA has not extended an invitation asking for people to come,” she stated, according to Fox News Digital. “This is a political act.”
On Tuesday, Bass took to X and called Abbott “evil” for sending the migrants.
“This evening, Los Angeles received another bus from Texas. That means that while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING they’d have to drive right into an unprecedented storm,” she wrote. “Evil.”
This evening, Los Angeles received another bus from Texas.
That means that while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING they’d have to drive right into an unprecedented storm.
Evil.
— Karen Bass (@KarenBassLA) August 22, 2023
However, according to Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, all of the migrants signed a voluntary consent waiver before boarding the bus.
“Bus drivers receive updated weather conditions along their routes and for their destination ahead of and while en route to the sanctuary cities,” he told Fox News Digital after the ninth bus departed. “Yesterday’s bus rerouted out of an abundance of caution and took a cautious path to Los Angeles to keep all on board safe.”
“Migrants willingly chose to go to Los Angeles, having signed a voluntary consent waiver available in multiple languages upon boarding that they agreed on the destination,” he explained. “And they were processed and released by the federal government, who are dumping them at historic levels in Texas border towns because of the Biden-made crisis.”
“Each bus is stocked with food and water and makes stops along the trip to refuel and switch drivers,” Mahaleris continued. “Migrants are allowed to purchase any needed provisions or disembark at any of these stops.”
“Instead of complaining about Texas providing much-needed relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities,” he stated, “Mayor Bass needs to call on President Biden to step up and do his job to secure the border—something he continues failing to do.”
So far, Texas has bused more than 30,000 migrants to Democratic-led cities from coast to coast.
On Thursday, yet another busload of roughly 50 migrants pulled up near Harris’s residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory, BizPac Review reported.
Kamala Harris HOME TARGETED – the message was for her! https://t.co/2uiAlJkgfn via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) August 25, 2023
Earlier this month, Harris, the nation’s so-called “Border Czar,” condemned the practice, calling it “irresponsible.”
“So first of all, let’s agree that people should not be the pawns in a political game. Human beings should not be treated as pawns in a political game,” the vice president said during an interview with ABC News Live. “What is happening in terms of sending these migrants most of whom had to flee great harm, and sending them across the country for the sake of some political showmanship? It’s just irresponsible.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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