First Migrant Bus Arrives in Denver as Greg Abbott Vows to Continue Sending More to ‘Sanctuary Cities’

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has a new “sanctuary city” in his sights for his post-Title 42 migrant busing program: Denver, Colorado.

Abbott tweeted, “First bus of migrants arrives in Denver from Texas. Texas continues to provide relief for our overwhelmed, overrun border towns. Until President Biden steps up to secure the border, Texas will bus migrants to sanctuary cities.”

The migrants arrived on Thursday afternoon.

Denver’s city government has created a “city dashboard” to update the public about the situation and provide information for those who wish to volunteer with sheltering. According to the dashboard, 98 migrants had arrived by noon Thursday.

Denver joined a host of cities to receive busloads of migrants from Texas, including Washington, D.C.; New York; Chicago; and Philadelphia.

A press release accompanying Abbott’s tweet claimed Texas has bused 19,000 migrants “to these self-declared sanctuary cities.”

“Texas’ overwhelmed and overrun border communities should not have to shoulder the flood of illegal immigration due to President Biden’s reckless open border policies, like his mass catch and release without court dates or any way to track them,” Abbott said in the release. “Until the President and his Administration step up and fulfill their constitutional duty to protect the border, the State of Texas will continue busing migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities like Denver to provide much-needed relief to our small border towns.”

When asked about Abbott’s technique, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said, “It is both a sad and tragic day when a government official uses migrants as a pawn for political purposes.”

Reports showed that the stream of migrants coming over the southern border into the United States started out slimmer than expected since Title 42 expired nearly a week ago. Title 42 was the Trump-era policy meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by making it more difficult for migrants to request asylum. President Biden warned there could be some initial “chaos.”

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