Texas Governor Greg Abbott did not send a bus full of migrants out of the state in July, according to data obtained by NBC News. Despite the moment he gave at the Republican National Convention will continue to send buses north until the border is “secure” on July 17.
In July 2023, Abbott sent 95 buses with 4,281 migrants to cities across the country, according to Texas Emergency Management figures obtained by NBC News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
This July, he sent zero.
The data covers the period from April 11, 2022 to August 8, 2024, and It confirms what NBC News exclusively reported last week: then bus trips dropped dramatically the president Joe Biden’s executive action limiting asylum applications has gone into effect In early June and beyond, it continued to fall because there were not enough migrants to fill the buses.
In January, Abbott sent 156 buses to Democratic-led cities outside the state. According to the data, the total decreased in February, then increased again in March and April, when Texas sent more than 100 each month to Chicago, Denver and New York.
By May, the total began to decline, with just over 3,000 migrants on 76 buses.
In June, the decline accelerated. Before June 4, the day Biden’s move took effect, five buses left.
On June 4, Abbott sent eight buses to Chicago, Denver and New York. After June 4, he sent 15 more. At least one bus heading north from Texas on June 11 may only be half full, according to reports. Buses usually carry 50 passengers, but this bus had 25 passengers.
Operators of migrant shelters in border towns told NBC News in late July there were not enough migrants to fill the busesand officials in some Northern cities said they believed no more buses would arrive.
“These buses will continue to run”
Representatives of the Republican National Convention last month was met with applause When Abbott doubled down on his commitment to send busloads of migrants to blue towns.
“We have continued to move migrants across the country to sanctuary cities,” Abbott told the crowd. “These buses will continue to run until we finally secure our border.”
But in some cities, newly available data confirms that migrant buses actually stopped before the new year.
The last bus to Washington was in October, and the last to Philadelphia was in December.
The last bus from Texas to Los Angeles arrived in mid-January 2024.
Abbott’s spokeswoman acknowledged that fewer migrants are now being bused out of the state, but said the Texas governor’s actions are driving the decline in the number of migrants crossing the border.
“Texas has reduced illegal crossings into the state by 85% thanks to our historic border mission,” said spokesman Andrew Maheris. “Fewer illegal crossings into Texas means fewer buses to sanctuary cities.”
A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Emergency Management, which has handled bus logistics in the past, said bus deployments change over time “due to the number of individuals processed and released in border communities that are overburdened by the federal government. number of passengers”.
For Carlos Sanchez, spokesman for Hidalgo County on the Mexican border, the story of communities swamped by migrants has always been exaggerated by politicians.
“It’s never been the talk of the town,” he told NBC News. “It could be the talk of the governorship or the talk of the nation, but the idea of overrunning us is not reflected locally.”