The program sends migrants to other U.S. cities as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star” — a multibillion dollar initiative to slow down border crossings.

Texas has spent more than $124 million sending buses of migrants to sanctuary cities, according to records obtained by Nexstar.

According to documents Nexstar obtained, Texas has paid $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants from the state’s border communities to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as of Jan. 10. That equals out to 2,245 buses year to date, an average of 45 migrants per bus.

Nexstar obtained the documents through a public information request to the Texas Division of Emergency Management — the agency tasked with this initiative. The majority of the payments have been made to Wynne Transportation LLC, with a handful of payments made to Transportation Management Services Inc.

  • Kaboom@reddthat.com
    372·
    10 months ago

    Yes, and its very effective to get politicians to realize that illegal immigration is a bad thing.

    How much does public transportation cost? The schools? Similar thing.

    • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
      25·
      10 months ago

      Spending that money on political stunts that treat immigrants as pawns made us realize what an absolute piece of shit Abbott, Republicans, and their supporters are. The lesson here is that Conservatives see brown people as less than human.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
      272·
      10 months ago

      Are you seriously arguing that trafficking humans is justified politicking, because roads and education cost money to grow and maintain?

      Jesus fucking Christ, bruh…

        • Telorand@reddthat.com
          18·
          10 months ago

          Oh really? It’s not trafficking? Prove it. Because I can prove that it is.

          Human Trafficking, according to Britannica:

          Human trafficking, form of modern-day slavery involving the illegal transport of individuals by force or deception for the purpose of labour, sexual exploitation, or activities in which others benefit financially.

          Human Trafficking, according to Miriam-Webster:

          Organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited (as by being forced into prostitution or involuntary labor).

          Human Trafficking, according to the UN:

          Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.

          Also, don’t bother being pedantic about the word “profit.” We both know politicking and remaining in power is a profit motive on its own.

          Additionally, why do you keep going on about public transportation? Do you think Greyhound is public transportation? Because it’s not. It is “public” in that it transports the public, but it’s 100% a private corporation. Chartering an interstate bus to trick people dressed for South Texas weather to go to New York in shorts and a T-shirt in order to win political points is by definition transportation and exploitation for profit.

          Human. Fucking. Trafficking. QED. And they spent Texans’ tax dollars to do it.

          But please, do go off about how coercing humans with few rights and little representation for political points is justified.

            • Telorand@reddthat.com
              14·
              10 months ago

              No, answer the original question. You don’t get to change topics as a defensive tactic.

              Prove how it’s not trafficking. Provide definitions and evidence to support your position or admit that you’re lying. Then we can address other topics or points of contention.

                • Bibliotectress@lemm.ee
                  17·
                  10 months ago

                  Not who you asked, but this was so well documented in so many news articles that I thought it was basic knowledge. I googled it for you.

                  https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-19/migrants-transported-california-texas-abbott-desantis

                  Eight Venezuelan migrants were flown last week from Texas to Sacramento with little cash — some without shoes — and the men have no idea why they were sent or who paid for the flights, an advocacy group said.

                  The men, who crossed the border in Laredo, Texas, had intentions to travel to New York, Florida or Utah and said they were confused as to why they were sent to California, where none of them had contacts or prospects.

                  https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/15/greg-abbott-texas-kamala-harris-migrant-bus/

                  Migrants landing in Martha’s Vineyard told reporters that they didn’t know where they were, that they thought they were going to different destinations or that they were lured on to the planes with the promise of being able to get work papers. Local officials said they were given no advanced warning about the migrants but would be providing resources to support them.

                  https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/30/us/asylum-seekers-texas-city-mayors/index.html

                  “Border Patrol will tell people that they can only wear one piece of clothing, so they strip themselves of their jackets and their warm clothing,” he said. “And that’s how from the point of contact with Border Patrol, to the point of being released in Chicago, or New York, or wherever it might be, that’s how they are traveling, oftentimes without shoelaces, because they’re told that they have to remove them.”

                  “He (Abbott) is now sending buses outside of the City of Chicago, in some instances, a hundred miles away where people are being dropped off … they’re being told they are in the City of Chicago, literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere,” Johnson said on “CNN This Morning” Friday. “I find that to be inhumane and unconscionable.”

                  https://news.wttw.com/2023/12/20/texas-flies-150-migrants-chicago-private-plane-more-buses-expected-police-mayor-s-office

                  City officials are working to ensure all of the migrants have a healthy and dignified place to live, and blamed Abbott for creating the conditions that led to the boy’s still-unexplained death, Johnson said. Many migrants arrive in Chicago sick and traumatized, he added.

            • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
              131·
              10 months ago

              https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/1436549/flat-out-lying-abbott-team-denies-migrants-must-sign-nda-to-board-buses/

              “It’s clear the migrants did not give their consent in any real way to be sent here. As many as 40% have family or close relations in other parts of the country who could provide them accommodation, but the migrants were not given the option of going to those places.” Levine wrote. “Not only is the State of Texas not coordinating with NYC, they have made migrants sign NDAs to ensure we get no advance warning of bus arrivals.”

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
      6·
      10 months ago

      If the politicians who say they are against illegal immigration really are, why do they never talk about the people who hire illegal immigrants and give them their whole reason to do so?

      It would be pretty easy to go after them. Just have agents pose as illegals and see who hires them.

    • kamenoko@sh.itjust.works
      4·
      10 months ago

      You have no idea how America was built, do you? Cheap immigrant labor from the wrong kind of whites and slavery if you were too brown.

      These ghouls are just out to enrich themselves and don’t care how much human misery it takes to achieve it.