First bus carrying migrants arrives in D.C. under Abbott's order | The Texas Tribune
Category: News & Politics
Via: jeremy-in-nc • 3 years ago • 112 commentsBy: Andrew Zhang, James Barragan and Jason Beeferman (The Texas Tribune)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
About 30 people from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua traveled to the U.S. capital as part of Gov. Greg Abbott's new plan in response to the end of Title 42.
by Andrew Zhang, James Barragan and Jason Beeferman April 13, 202215 hours ago
Copy linkRepublish A group of about 30 migrants arrived in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday after accepting an offer from the state of Texas to be taken there. Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune
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WASHINGTON — Sitting in the plaza in front of Union Station in Washington, D.C., with the U.S. Capitol behind her, Ordalis Heras, a 26-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker, tried to control her two young children while she waited to get transportation to New York.
Two months ago, Heras said she fled Venezuela with her husband and children to escape President Nicolas Maduro's regime. She crossed the border on Sunday through Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, and surrendered to U.S. immigration authorities in Del Rio.
On Tuesday, she took an offer from the state of Texas to be taken about 1,700 miles to Washington, D.C., for free. Now, a day later, she was about 200 miles away from her final destination.
"We are very thankful for all the help that has been given to us," Heras said in Spanish outside Union Station. "Frankly, we did not have the money to get here otherwise, so we are very thankful for the help."
Heras was one of about 30 people on the first bus transporting migrants from the Texas border to Washington, D.C., under a new plan unveiled by Gov. Greg Abbott last week. The governor said the order is in response to the Biden administration's decision to end Title 42, a pandemic-era emergency health order that allowed immigration authorities at the border to deny entry to migrants, even those seeking asylum.
When the health order goes away at the end of May, federal authorities expect as many as 18,000 migrants a day at the southern border. Abbott said last week that Texas would bus migrants to the nation's capital where the Biden administration could better deal with them.
The program is voluntary for migrants and must be requested by cities and counties, but the state pays for the buses.
"By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden Administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border," Abbott said in a Wednesday morning statement. "Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administration's failure to secure our border."
Abbott's office has said transportation to the nation's capital would happen only after migrants detained at the border had been processed and released by the Department of Homeland Security. In addition to buses, Abbott also said the state could charter flights to transport migrants to the nation's capital. The migrants would have to show documentation that they had already been processed by DHS.
People from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua made the journey from Texas' border to Capitol Hill on that first bus, the governor's office said, adding that another bus is already en route. Abbott's office has released few details of the cost and extent of the bus operations and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
The bus appeared to be operated by a North Carolina-based company called Elder Charters, according to a Fox News video of the bus' arrival to Washington. The company declined to comment Wednesday and directed questions to Texas state officials.
Heras' bus arrived Wednesday morning a few blocks away from the Capitol and Union Station, where the migrants, flanked by several volunteers with the Catholic Church, awaited transport to the next leg of their respective journeys. According to John Enzler, president and CEO of Catholic Charities and a volunteer with the migrants, most of the bus' passengers had family in the area and left immediately after arriving.
Through her journey, Heras said she and her family had been robbed, left penniless and left to sleep on the streets. But she said immigration officials in the U.S. treated them well, fed them and gave them documentation for future court hearings before transferring them to a church where they were offered a bus ride to Washington.
Enzler said he and other volunteers with his organization went to Union Station to assist the migrants after they heard of the bus arriving. A pamphlet from the charity that some of the migrants held said the organization could assist the migrants with applying for food stamps, finding employment, online vocational programs and English classes.
Heras said the bus trip took 30 hours, adding that they were also fed and well cared for by officials on the bus. From Washington, she said, the charity group will help her family get to New York, where she and her family plan to continue the asylum-seeking process. She does not have family there but she said she will stay with groups that help immigrants.
"From here on in, I think things will be better," she said. "I have hope that things will be better and that my children will have a better quality of life."
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They're the problem of DC now.
No, look at the fuck up that Abbott, the fuck up, just created!
That's a terrible thing to call Ordalis Heras and her two young children, here in the nation's Capital.
I was referring to my comment at 2.
What the fuck are you talking about?
As opposed to the one currently sitting in the big chair in the Oval Office? I'll pick Abbott any day.
Of course you would choose the fuck up.
How can your comment 1.1 be referring to the later comment 2?
What the fuck are you talking about?
The terrible way you referenced poor Ordalis Heras and her two young children, "the fuck up, just created!".
BTW, your overuse of profanity makes you less effective.
I WASN'T REFERENCING THEM - I WAS REFERENCING ABBOTT.
SEE COMMENT 2
I CAN'T CONTROL HOW MY COMMENTS ARE PLACED IN AN ARTICLE.
I DON'T CARE HOW YOU VIEW ME.
The art of effective swearing is an entirely unappreciated skill. Few master the finer details of it ...
Sorry, already said I would not choose Biden. Abbott is definitely the lesser of two evils.
Try shaking your keyboard upside down to get rid of those pesky crumbs causing your caps lock key to stick.
[Deleted]
[Deleted]
Look, I know that people have varying opinions of undocumented immigrants, but you don't have to call them trolls or fuck ups. They are human beings trying to protect their family.
Spot on, Sparty on.
Reality is, Aabott is following Biden's policy. Collect up the illegals and move them.
Keep your comments straight. Don't just randomly place comments then direct people to somewhere else.
What? I have no control over where the comments are placed once I make them. How stupid.
You know full well how this site works. You made an unrelated comment in this thread and began referring everybody to another thread. Stop with the games.
As Texas buses migrants to D.C., Abbott faces backlash for chaos at the border
According to CNN , at least five of the migrants who disembarked in D.C. Wednesday said they were asylum seekers from Venezuela. They said they’d arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday, where they were processed by federal authorities and then released from custody while their cases make their way through the immigration court system. After they were released, the migrants said they were offered a voluntary bus ride to Washington.
“Biden refuses to come see the mess he’s made at the border,” Abbott posted on Twitter, along with a link to a Fox News story about the bus’s arrival. “So Texas is bringing the border to him.”
In addition to transporting migrants to Washington — which Abbott’s office clarified would be done on a voluntary basis, after the migrants have been processed and released by the Department of Homeland Security — the governor announced last week that he had ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to begin enhanced public safety inspections for commercial vehicles entering Texas from Mexico.
Both moves were part of what the governor’s office described as “the first in a series of aggressive actions by the State of Texas to secure the border in the wake of President Biden's decision to end Title 42 expulsions.” Title 42 refers to an emergency public health order that has allowed authorities to turn away most migrants at the border since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Homeland Security has said it is bracing for a likely surge in illegal migration at the southern border, ahead of the Biden administration’s plan to lift Title 42 restrictions next month.
While Abbott explained that the enhanced inspections were intended to prevent “a significant rise in cartel-facilitated smuggling via unsafe vehicles upon the end of Title 42 expulsions,” he warned that it would likely “dramatically slow” traffic across the border — prompting immediate concerns for truckers, business leaders and local officials about the economic impact of this new directive.
According to the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development at Texas A&M International University , nearly $442 billion in trade between the U.S. and Mexico flowed through international ports of entry in Texas in 2021.
One week later, those concerns appear to have been warranted. On Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a fact sheet stating that “unnecessary inspections being conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) at the order of the Governor of Texas” were causing “lengthy delays” for trucks along the Texas-Mexico border, “with wait times at some border crossings exceeding five hours and commercial traffic dropping by as much as 60 percent.”
At some border crossings, protests by Mexican truckers against the new security measures have brought traffic to a halt. That was the case on Monday along the international bridge between Pharr, Texas, and Reynosa, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which, according to the Texas Tribune , “is the busiest trade crossing in the Rio Grande Valley and handles the majority of the produce that crosses into the U.S. from Mexico, including avocados, broccoli, peppers, strawberries and tomatoes.”
By Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News reported that, according to Dante Galeazzi, CEO and president of the Texas Independent Producers Association, the logjam had stalled $30 million in fresh produce in traffic over the border.
“Local trade associations, officials, and businesses are requesting the Texas state government discontinue their additional border truck inspection process, because it is not necessary to protect the safety and security of Texas communities and is resulting in significant impacts to local supply chains that will impact consumers and businesses nationally,” the CBP fact sheet noted.
Among those calling for Abbott to stop the additional inspections is Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller , a Republican, who called the measures “political theater” in an open letter addressed to the governor.
“Your inspection protocol is not stopping illegal immigration,” Miller wrote . “It is stopping food from getting to grocery store shelves and in many cases causing food to rot in trucks — many of which are owned by Texas and other American companies. … The people of Texas deserve better!”
Beto O’Rourke, Abbott’s Democratic challenger in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial election, echoed Miller’s comments at a press conference in Pharr on Tuesday, saying that the crackdown on commercial trucks "is killing businesses and the Texas economy."
"It's going to be very bad for the Texas economy. It's going to be very bad for the national economy," said O'Rourke, who also recently joined the growing chorus of Democrats who’ve criticized the Biden administration’s decision to lift Title 42 without outlining a clear plan to address a potential migrant surge.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement Wednesday calling the inspections ordered by Abbott “unnecessary and redundant” and stating that “Governor Abbott’s actions are impacting people’s jobs, and the livelihoods of hardworking American families.”
The chaos at our Southern border was already there courtesy of the Biden administration well before Governor Abbott decided to take things in hand to do what the feds would not. Kudos to Governor Abbott and the state of Texas.
The chaos at our southern border has always been an issue well before President Biden.
I sincerely doubt you have ever been to the border and seen what it is like with your own eyes today. I live on the border and see it with my own eyes on a daily basis rather that believe the trash put out by MSM like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, HUFFPO, The Atlantic and others. You really have little clue.
Sure you do!
You also assume much.
Your idiot president has made the situation much worse.
No, he hasn't.
Yes, he most certainly has.
I don't think so. You have a good day now.
No, he hasn't.
So aren't you going to throw up an impasse because you lost the argument, as usual?
Denier.
You've been called out several times just on this thread. Provide something to back up your claims or move on. It's that simple.
There was no argument. You lost from the beginning by refusing to answer my question. And my using the IMPASSE function is to not listen the insulting drivel you resort to when a discussion is challenged. It gets old. Goodbye.
I don't answer to you!
I never lose.
Only in her imagination.
You're the last one standin'
Two hands in the air, You're a champion
We're looking up at you when it's over
You live for the battle, you're a soldier, yeah
You're a fighter like Rocky
Put us flat on our back like Ali
Yeah, you're the greatest, you're stronger
Paid your dues, can't lose, you're own 'n us, ay
You need to post credits to the writer.
Thanks, fixed.
There you all go again - by talking about me - and around me - you are again making me the topic of the 'article'
Dammit...
It was my coffee on my screen this time.
Incapable of realizing they have already lost.
A second bus from Texas has arrived in DC now.
If they had not been allowed to cross the border in the first place this would not have happened
That's a definite yep.
All those feral cats right?
Texas is sharing the Feral cats with Biden and those who want them.
You mean your fellow human beings?
So migrants shouldn't be allowed to seek asylum?
Why should they get to be our problem?
So migrants shouldn't be allowed to seek asylum?
Where should they go?
Where should your fellow human beings go?
They should stay where they are.
Not my problem they don't like it there or that they are not wanted there.
What are you willing to give up to take them in?
Don't deflect.
I see how you feel about your fellow human beings.
Pity.
40 - 50 million unamerican trumpsters.
Libs only pandering for potential voters. They don't see immigrants as human beings
Projection
Bingo!
What have you done to help the poor and distraught in Baltimore?
Next stops, Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago, and AOC’s apartment in NYC.
Get the extra towels out people. They’ll probably need a shower ......
And the vast majority will just disappear into the woodwork and shadows never to be seen by a USCIS judge.
And they're probably not vaxxed
They also broke the law, but the left wants them here. Period.
We on the left don't turn our backs on those in need.
We already have enough American Citizens in need
So answer the question Charger ask you in 3.3.4 .
These are ALL our fellow human beings. Doesn't matter where anyone is from.
Nope. I don't answer to him or anyone else.
The majority of folks on this 'article' have never proven a single argument (excluding myself)
You don't need to rub it in Tessylo, everyone here knows that you're simply the best, better than all the rest. Better than anyone, anyone I've ever met. I'm stuck on your heart, I hang on every word you say.
It looks like the very wealthy, progressives in Maryland have turned their backs on the needy of Baltimore.
I noticed that along with a couple of other members.
No, that would be the gop/gqp/alleged conservatives, such as yourself.
I noticed that along with a couple of other members.
Nothing get's by you.
I'm not a member of the gop and haven't alleged anything. The very wealthy state of Maryland is one of our Bluest.
I'm not a member of the gop and haven't alleged anything. The very wealthy state of Maryland is one of our Bluest.
I'm sure there are 13 sets of parents and/or loved ones that lost their sons and daughters on a black day in August of last year in Afghanistan and the huge number of civilians left behind that would disagree with you.
Yeah, I know once I log on here I have several fans who like to dog my heels . . . . it's like an obsession - not healthy guys!
😭
Lol .... now that is funny ....
Actually, it's called comedy relief.
not healthy guys!
What’s unhealthy about learning from you, Tess?
The obsession is the unhealthy part.
Then move along.
And who are you talking to? You need to check who you are replying to and act accordingly.
Nope.
Can't you figure that out? It's pretty obvious who I am responding to.
That comment speaks for itself.
As bad as it would be, one would hope it’s just a troll but unfortunately I think it’s much worse than that.
I think she really believes it ......
I think that to make an impressive achievement or an outstanding contribution requires a certain level of obsessiveness. I get excited thinking about what I might achieve after learning from you. I'm grateful that you are here.
It is. You're responding to yourself. You need to check who you are replying to and act accordingly.
That one time. One mistake.
That's not "one mistake". You do it pretty regularly to avoid tickets.
What have you done for the American citizens in need in Baltimore?
Certainly, you have not turned your back on them, have you?
How many homeless in Baltimore have you taken into your home with free food and lodging?
You all continue to prove my point.
Uh huh....
You all continue to prove my point.
That's easy since your points are always so provable.
And pointless as well...
You have made no points.
Exactly!
JFC - quit answering the trolling and maybe she'll go away.
I've told her before that if I bother her so much, she is more than welcome to put me on ignore, but she seems not to want to.
No way..
Some on here thrive on trolling.
To some, it is like a narcotic.