Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made good on his plan to bus migrants to the U.S. Capitol after his accusation that the Biden administration has turned a "blind eye" to problems at the border and that Texas "should not have to bear the burden" of increased migration, reports the Washington Post. Only one bus has been dispatched so far, carrying around 24 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Colombia who volunteered for the trip. Abbott said a second bus is on the way. He related the plan to the Biden administration's plan to end the pandemic-era public health order called Title 42 on May 23. Key facets of Title 42 are the rapid expulsion of migrants from the border as well as the suspension of asylum processing. Once these measures are lifted, most fear that the already inflated numbers of migrants attempting to cross the border will rise. This has caused widespread derision of Biden from Republicans as well as from some Democrats who think that such an action shouldn't have been taken so close to the midterm elections.
The White House has called Abbott's plan a publicity stunt. Administration officials say the Department of Homeland Security will surge officers to the border, reopen the asylum system, and transport migrants to different spots in the U.S. to avoid overwhelming border cities and towns after scrapping Title 42. The migrants in the first bus came from Del Rio, Tx., where in September an influx of Haitian migrants overwhelmed the city and Customs and Border Protections agents stationed there. Some boarded the bus with their families while others went alone, and a Catholic priest helping the migrants at Union Station in D.C. said that many of them were traveling elsewhere from D.C. to be with relatives. Among their destinations were New York, Boston, Rhode Island, and Miami.