ALICE, Texas — The Jim Wells County Republican Party welcomed in special guest Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday. While on his campaign trail, he touched on many subjects, one of which was explaining his decision to bus migrants to some of the largest cities in the country.
Abbott started bussing migrants to Washington D.C. in April.
To a loud applause, Abbott said his reasoning was to protect border cities. He said migrants would be released in smaller cities and overwhelm the communities.
“They had no ability to address or deal with or provide for," he said. "All these people who suddenly showed up. And a mayor brought up the idea, he said he may just start bussing them to San Antonio.”
Abbott said let me take the reins on the bussing. He wanted to send a message to President Joe Biden.
“Joe Biden has never been to the border to see the chaos that he has caused," said Abbott. "He has no idea just like most people in the United States of America had no idea about what was going on, on the border. And so, I figured if Joe Biden will not come to the border, we will take the border to Joe Biden.”
Beto O'Rourke, Democratic candidate for Texas governor was in Corpus Christi on Sunday and was asked about his thoughts about Abbott sending migrants out of state on busses.
“We can ensure that there’s a safe, legal orderly path for someone who wants to come here and work, or to join family, someone who’s trying to seek asylum right now,” O'Rourke said.
O'Rourke disagreed with Abbott's decision.
“After eight years of Greg Abbott though we don’t have any of that," he said. "We have chaos, we have stunts, what we need are solutions.”
Abbott touched on why other cities were added to his list of cities to send busses to. For New York City, he said he did it in reaction to Mayor Eric Adams criticism of Abbott's decision. Abbott said at that point he hadn’t sent busses to New York City.
“We went on record and showed the paperwork to show we were not bussing people to New York City," said Abbott. "But that did not stop Mayor Adams from New York to continue to criticize me for bussing people to his city. So, I thought you know what, if I’m going to get the criticism, I’m going to get the credit.”
Adams made comments earlier in the week, saying Abbott is at fault for creating this "man-made humanitarian crisis."
“When we reached out to Gov. Abbott and stated can we coordinate? Can we identify who’s traveling here, so that we don’t have to guess this? They refused to do so,” said Adams
Then Abbott went on to talk about Chicago. He said because they have a welcoming policy for anyone, he decided to send migrants there as well.
Abbott said the sanctuary cities are hypocritical. He blames them for underestimating what happens at the border, then they request federal help to handle all asylum seekers.
According to Abbott’s team, over 10,000 migrants have been bussed to sanctuary cities. It's cost Texas over $12 million.
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