NEW YORK, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said on Friday he has started to send buses carrying migrants to New York City in an effort to push responsibility for border crossers to Democratic mayors and U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
The first bus arrived early on Friday at the city's Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan carrying around 50 migrants from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Venezuela. Volunteers were helping to steer people who had no relatives in town to city resources.
"Most of them don't have anybody to help. They don't know where to go, so we're taking them to shelters," said one volunteer at the bus station, Evelin Zapata, from a group called Grannies Respond.
One family of four from Colombia, who ended up at a homeless intake center in the Bronx, were unsure of where they would spend the night. Byron and Leidy, both 28, said they left the country's capital Bogota because they were having trouble finding work. They did not provide their last name.
"It's a little easier to enter the country now, before it was very hard to come here with children," said Leidy, who traveled with her kids Mariana, 7, and Nicolas, 13. She said the family had hoped someone they knew in New York would take them in, but that plan did not work out. "We came here because they said they would help us find a place to sleep to not have to stay in the street," Leidy said.
Abbott, who is running for a third term as governor in November elections, has already sent more than 6,000 migrants to Washington since April in a broader effort to combat illegal immigration and call out Biden for his more welcoming policies. read more
Biden came into office in January 2021 pledging to reverse many of the hardline immigration policies of his Republican predecessor, former President Donald Trump, but some efforts have been blocked in court.
Abbott said New York City Mayor Eric Adams could provide services and housing for the new arrivals.
"I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief," Abbott said in a statement.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, another Republican, has followed Abbott's lead and bused another 1,000 to Washington.
U.S. border authorities have made record numbers of arrests under Biden although many are repeat crossers. Some migrants who are not able to be expelled quickly to Mexico or their home countries under a COVID-era policy are allowed into the United States, often to pursue asylum claims in U.S. immigration court.
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Texas governor sends migrants to New York City as immigration standoff accelerates
Republican Greg Abbott, who is running for a third term as governor in November elections, has already sent more than 6,000 migrants to Washington.
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