Democratic leaders in El Paso, Texas, have sent 178 busloads of migrants to New York, Chicago and Denver in less than a month, but only the state’s Republican governor is under fire for transporting migrants to sanctuary cities.
More than 7,700 migrants have been transported from West Texas since the city began its bus program on September 22, the city told DailyMail.com.
Chicago received the most buses, with 73 charters to Illinois. Another 55 went to New York City and 50 traveled to Denver.
In addition, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is also transporting migrants from El Paso and several other border cities in his state.
His program sent a few 51,840 migrants to Democratic strongholds since its inception last year.
A bus full of migrants from Texas arrives at Union Station in Chicago on September 1.
Democrat Mayor Oscar Leeser received President Joe Biden in El Paso in January.
Abbott’s actions have been called “inhumane” and “cruel” by the mayors of the blue cities on the receiving end of those buses.
“I once again appeal to your better character and ask that you stop this inhumane and dangerous action,” former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a letter to Abbott in April.
“Some lunatic in Texas decided he wanted to take a bus to New York City,” New York Mayor said Eric Adams said last month.
Meanwhile, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser has escaped the harsh language but welcomed a delegation from Illinois to West Texas.
“We will continue conversations with Mayor Johnson and his team to ensure a coordinated and joint response from our cities to the humanitarian crisis we face,” Estrella Escobar, Lesser’s chief of staff, said in a statement.
Chicago elected leaders say they’ve made it clear they don’t want El Paso to send any more asylum seekers north
“What we shared with the mayor of El Paso is that there is no more room in Chicago,” Councilman Will Hall told the ABC station in Chicago.
‘He gets it. What we’ve said is that whatever partners they have in Texas will help us in Chicago, which he’s assigning now, and we’ve started the conversations with the nonprofit here to help us.”
However, El Paso has not publicly committed to ending buses to Chicago.
In the past, Leeser has said the buses are crucial to preventing El Paso’s shelter network from collapsing and keeping migrants off El Paso’s streets — the worst-case scenario for locals.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott began ferrying migrants in April 2022 to ease the burden on the border city.
Migrants arrive at the New York City Port Authority in May.
The migrants traveling on both the El Paso city and Texas buses are asylum seekers who are legally in the US.
“In El Paso, we probably have the largest asylum crossing (population) in El Paso of probably anywhere in the country, and yet we haven’t had any street releases,” Leeser said at the last city council meeting.
‘Last month we were able to house 16,00 people and provide more than 40,000 meals. This way we can continue to ensure that our community is safe, that our asylum seekers are safe and go to the destination of their choice.”
The current El Paso bus program is the city’s second iteration of moving migrants. From August to October last year, the city transported more than 13,000 migrants to New York and Chicago.
At the time, El Paso officials said their program was not the same as Abbott’s, as the governor has dropped off migrants near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home and often sends buses to announced cities.
In September, El Paso leaders assured the public that they were letting host cities know the buses would arrive in plenty of time and sending a detailed list of who was on board.