By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-28 20:11:08 | Updated at 2024-11-28 22:54:44
2 hours ago
Texas is looking at a plan to ramp up migrant buses again — but instead of sending them to sanctuary cities, officials would ship newly arrived illegal migrants directly to ICE holding centers so they can be processed quickly for deportation, a Lone Star State source told The Post.
The proposal, which has not been approved by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, is meant to continue Operation Lone Star, which seeks to deter migrants from crossing into Texas illegally.
“We are always gonna be involved in border security so long as we’re a border state,” the source in the Texas government said.
“We spent a lot of taxpayer money to have the level of deterrent that we have on the border and we can’t just walk away.”
President-elect’s new border czar Tom Homan said he is interested in working with Texas to make it happen.
Under the proposed plan, buses chartered by Texas from border cities will be rerouted from sanctuary cities including New York, Chicago and Denver to federal detention centers to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents process them more quickly, the source said.
“That’s a way we could be involved in that, and of course they would reimburse us for paying for the [bus] contract,” said the source.
Abbott’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Homan told The Post Abbott did not bring up the idea during his visit to the Texas border with the governor earlier this week. However, he said, “I look forward to discussing that with them.”
“We’re going to help them finish this job and secure Texas and we’re going to work in partnership. And [Abbott] doesn’t have to worry about this administration suing him … to secure the Texas border,” he added.
Texas bused nearly 120,000 migrants from the border to New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago starting in 2022 in an effort to draw attention to the massive problems at the border.
About 45,900 migrants were sent to New York City alone.
However, the buses stopped running over the summer after the number of crossings into Texas dropped dramatically — in part due to the state’s efforts to reinforce the border and take enforcement into its own hands.
By voting Trump back into office, voters “soundly repudiated Biden’s radical open borders policies” that “made less Americans safe,” said Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison.
Texas has already offered up land along the border for the incoming Trump administration to build deportation centers to hold illegal migrant criminals.
“My office has identified several of our properties and is standing by ready to make this happen on Day One of the Trump presidency,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said during a visit to the border Tuesday.
Homan said he will prioritize illegal migrants who pose threats to public safety and national security for the first wave of deportations.
