Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to bus migrants to New York City and Washington, D.C., has amplified the desperate need for comprehensive immigration reform. Since April, Abbott has bused more than 7,200 migrants from Texas to President Joe Biden’s backyard. Since Aug. 5, he’s bused more than 1,500 migrants to New York City.
Immigration is a federal issue, but it is an acute challenge for border states. And we can’t help but notice that Abbott’s busing program has had an interesting side effect. It has prompted comments from Mayors Eric Adams and Muriel Bowser, of New York City and Washington, D.C., that give voice to the pressures border communities face.
“We need help, and we’re reaching out to the federal government to tell them that we need help,” Adams said just after the first bus arrival.
“The pace of the arriving buses and the volume of arrivals have reached tipping points,” Bowser wrote in a July 19 letter to the office of the U.S. secretary of defense. “Our collective response and service efforts have now become overwhelmed.”
So, in a narrow sense, props to Abbott for prompting Adams and Bowser to articulate the concerns of border communities, which bear the brunt of a broken immigration system. And if this, in turn, leads to comprehensive immigration reform, then it would be a master stroke. But our concern is this is more about scoring political points than bringing attention to the issue of immigration with appropriate moral urgency. Consider what Abbott said in a statement this month about busing:
“Because of President Biden’s continued refusal to acknowledge the crisis caused by his open border policies, the State of Texas has had to take unprecedented action to keep our communities safe” he said. “In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city. 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.”
Immigration is a federal issue, but for border communities it’s local, and the pressure is intense. The flow of migrants in the Del Rio sector has been off the charts. As Express-News and Houston Chronicle reporter Jeremy Wallace has outlined, since October, more than 376,000 migrant encounters with federal officials have occurred in the Del Rio sector, twice as many as the same point in time last year.
In a recent Editorial Board meeting, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told us smuggling organizations “are far more sophisticated than they were in the past.” And he said this is a unique moment in terms of immigration flow.
“What we are seeing is something very, very different than what preceded over the last ‘x’ number of years,” he said. “Because it’s not simply, or merely, migration from the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. We are seeing a tremendous increase in Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, Brazilians, Peruvians.”
Given shifting global immigration patterns and federal political gridlock, just what is a border governor to do? No wonder Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, told us busing immigrants to Washington and New York is “smart politics on Abbott’s part” because his GOP base overwhelmingly supports his immigration efforts. And, of course, he has brought broader attention to the issue.
On one level, what Abbott has offered migrants, if you remove the obvious politics, is a pretty good deal. They receive a free bus ride to Washington or New York, where asylum is granted more often than in Texas and organizations are better resourced to provide aid. It’s the kind of offer that might inspire more migrants to come here, an irony Abbott’s supporters should ponder.
But while busing might be “smart politics,” we wonder what Abbott’s end game is in terms of broader policies, or whether there is a moral driving force. In our interview, Mayorkas said the governor’s actions on the border, when done in coordination with DHS, can be beneficial. But when the state acts unilaterally, it can “wreak havoc.”
In this case, the busing doesn’t wreak havoc, but, Mayorkas said, “The unilateral busing of migrants, irrespective of the capacity of particular locales to address the needs of those individuals, also can prove problematic.”
We’re concerned about how it turns migrants into political props; plays states against each other; and presents immigrants strictly in terms of cost while ignoring the economic benefits immigrants bring, such as paying taxes and filling labor needs.
Let’s think comprehensively. As Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico told us during an Editorial Board meeting last Wednesday: “The effort ought to be focused on having the United States Congress bring us the solutions… that we have been trying to get to for 30 years.”
As the buses flow to New York City and Washington, D.C., and mayors in those cities echo the words of mayors along the border, as migrants cross in the Del Rio sector, let’s all take stock of what words and actions truly lead to the comprehensive reforms so long overdue and desperately needed.
San Antonio Express-News
