Frustrated by “rogue buses” from Texas dropping off migrants by the thousands, the mayors of New York, Chicago and Denver are trying to slow the surge by requiring the bus operators to coordinate arrivals under the threat of impound, fines and even jail time.
Last week, 14 busloads of migrants from Texas made their way to New York City – the highest total recorded since spring 2022, Mayor Eric Adams said, citing the city’s Asylum Seeker Arrival Center.
At the direction of Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, the Lone Star state has bused over 90,000 migrants to “sanctuary cities” run by Democrats like Washington, DC, New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles since April 2022, according to numbers released by the governor’s office Friday.
In justifying the busing of migrants who cross the southern border, Abbott in a statement last year said “it was just Texas and Arizona that bore the brunt of all the chaos and problems that come with it.”
“Now, the rest of America can understand exactly what is going on,” he said.
Why is no one being arrested for human trafficking? It’s human trafficking no matter what the immigrant’s legal status is.
I feel like I remember investigations when this stuff first happened, but they never went anywhere. I think the GOO has claimed they have the consent of the people on the buses, although it sounds like they are being mislead.
A lot of those people were lied to by the GOP politicians and staff
Are they making them sign something?
I keep hearing that they’re misled. I can believe it. Has anyone gone undercover for a story or as an investigation to see what actually happens?
We need some hard reporting because all I see now is racial bias being triggered on the left. It’s done with the best of intentions, but it’s there nonetheless.
I live in California. Soon they’ll be eligible to get Medical insurance. I have no issue with this. Let’s empower people. Not resent them in some kind of low key way.
Here’s one story from last time about them being misled when sent to Martha’s Vineyard.
Detailing “how its clients were induced to board airplanes and cross state lines under false pretenses,” the legal aid group said that only after the planes landed did the immigrants “learn that the offers of assistance had all been a ruse to exploit them for political purposes.”
Basically they were told they were being helped or sent to one place where they have a hearing scheduled, or that their hearing was moved, then they’d be sent to whatever city instead.
Which, again, really sounds like human trafficking to me.
I am not sure they are being misled. I am also comfortable with more open border policies. But I also understand the border states being a bit frustrated. It fairly easy to shit on them when your state doesn’t see the issues first hand. But getting back to the misleading part. With so many immigrants in a smaller area, being spread to cities like new York would certainly give them far more work options. Also a great deal of them may have relatives in various areas and this would make it easier to join them. I think this is a bonus overall to immigrants.
“Increase Human Suffering” should be the 2024 RNC convention theme. That they are sending people with absolutely no notice is unconscionable. There are people and organizations all over the country who will put in effort to prepare for the arrival of these human beings, but Abbott seems to want it to be a surprise, and to further increase these people’s suffering in order to try to make a political message.
Cruelty is the point.
That’s the DARVO movement/party slogan. One of stinky don’s base said the quiet part out loud: “He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting”. This is their thing - they don’t want to help all Americans, they want to HURT people who are not themselves.
Conservatism is a sickness.
Yep. Quite ironic the extent to which they are able to win votes is based on hatred and harming others, when, you know that Jesus guy basically went around feeding the poor and homeless, telling people to give all their stuff to the poor and embrace a life of service to others and to a spirituality that focused on community, not in grandiose megachurches, but in a humble home willing to host a ragtag bunch of social outcasts and misfits.
American Christianity is so fucking awful.
Can we just send abbot by bus to Guadalajara or somewhere without notice?
Oh please. Seriously. These are people. These are human beings with family, feelings, and capable of so much love and good. What is so messed up with this party where it’s an option to treat these people like pawns in some made up power grab/mines bigger competition just to make a point. The reality is it just lets the powers that be “prove” they tow party line.
You know that GOP people don’t care about humans, don’t you?
They want to own these people. You know, like what the “GOP” stands for. Also, they’re not the party of conservatives; it’s the party of regression.
Take every single federal cent Texas gets for border security, and give it to New York, Illinois, Colorado, Maryland, DC, and California instead. Since, you know, they’re the ones actually dealing with it.
That would result in no border security, which would mean more illegals and/or Texas escalating enforcement actions, which would mean more busses and probably illegal immigrant hunting parties.
So overall making things magnitudes worse.
I’d just keep the buses. I hate civil asset forfeiture as much as anyone but if Texas wants to fund city bus system expansion, let them.
As someone who’s looked at converting a schoolbus into a motor home you can get buses for really cheap. All impounding will do is make them use cheap disposable buses that might not make the trip.
Was thinking the exact same thing. If I were Texas I’d put it the call for cheap buses that are save enough for the trip and just take them one way. This is a shit show, the people need help but it shouldn’t fall on one state.
I suspect they’re privately owned and chartered by the state. You’d get (and I assume lose) lawsuits over it.
Sounds like a vehicle that may have been used in the commission of a crime, good luck suing a state government. They can have their buses back in 2 years after they’ve sat in an impound lot.
You can only sue the government, if the government says you can. They could ignore the lawsuits, and impound the busses under civil forfeiture. They could then use said busses for whatever the government wants.
What Abbott is doing is an inhumane stunt, but there is truly a humanitarian crisis that we need to do better about. Dropping them off in NYC at midnight is not the answer but we need to do something.
Edit: do something as in provide humanitarian aid and housing, not lock them in cages and deport them.
Anyone have any idea why there’s been so many migrants lately? What’s been going on in South America?
They’re not just from the Americas. People are coming from all over the globe and trying to make it into the U.S. through the southern border. It’s not really surprising, is it? America is rich and the world is on fire.
I know one country inflation was out of control recently. I heard Mexico was doing pretty well not sure why they don’t stay there on thier way up.
I know one country inflation was out of control recently.
What country was that?
Argentina most likely. Last I saw it was like 160%.
That’s the one. Thank you!
What we should do is install a wall around Texas, Arizona, etc to keep these evil governors from shipping these people anywhere else.
And not let people out unless they need medical care or an education
Definitely, but we don’t want everyone to just say they need medical care or an education. And not too many to overrun our healthcare/education systems. Maybe have them remain in Texas until their cases can be reviewed by an appropriate panel.
This has been happening for years, across the country in conservative controlled states and cities, and all of the insane conservative radio talk show listeners still blame the increase of homelessness in cities they dont live in, but work in, on city policies aimed at helping the homeless.
In fact, an idea that at least was going around conservative talk radio around Seattle was that actually people who do not live in Seattle city limits, but commute in for work, should be able to vote in Seattle elections.
This is so astoundingly absurd that it hurts to think about. For one, if this went through, it would mean directlty tying ability to vote to having a job. That is astoundingly anti-democratic. For two (?), this kind of blows up the entire idea of tje American political system, as well a basically any democratic government I have ever even heard of in the last 100 years. Oh right and #3, this prioritizes commuting and car ownership basically formalizing society into a kind of caste system of car owners and non car owners.
But really the most absurd thing is that these conservative radio hosts will then flip on a dime to making some kind of ‘actually i am a constitutional scholar and understander of all legal precedent of all kinds’ type of persona/argument to argue for or against some other position, seemingly actually unaware of the massive hypocrisy.
In conclusion, modern American conservatism is a delusional hyper aggressive irrational death cult. They literally hate the poor and the homeless /so much/ they will abandon what were previously self professed hallmarks of their own ideology if it means they can harm those with the least in society even more.
people who do not live in Seattle city limits, but commute in for work, should be able to vote in Seattle elections.
There’s definitely something to be said for city limits to expand, or for services like taxation and transit to be regionalized over all people using city resources
This is such a cluster. The right is obviously doing this just to “own the libs”, but really, what is the end game here? There are plenty of liberals that are seeking serious policies that address the border w/o the dumb posturing of the far right that are mostly about white supremacy. If the right was even remotely serious about immigration, they would be calling for imprisoning those that employ undocumented workers and if the right’s concerns were only about economic anxiety, that would take care of most of this jibber jabber, though of course, there would still be the matter of asylum seekers.
How many on the right are doing this, though?
It’s so hard to have a serious conversation about this. Of course, the very fringes of the left (and they are probably a very tiny, but overly vocal minority that make it easy for the far right to point at the most ridiculous examples and say we are all like this) don’t help by painting everything as being a simplistic white=bad, POC=good. I would argue nearly everyone wants some control of our borders and who gets in and how they are vetted and most of this sentiment is not racially motivated. It’s just a matter of degrees as to how much control, how many people and so on.
When it comes to asylum seekers, the right almost universally refuses to consider the holistic picture and America’s hand in creating the outcomes of having asylum seekers in the first place…
Border states have been ignored for decades. Once Spanish was a language you heard across America, people paid more attention.
Where should these 90k people live? That’s an honest question. It is. Should they get housing when homeless Americans don’t? Should they be given a bus voucher that can’t be sold? What are border states supposed to do?
If a real border could be done while handling environmental and race concerns, I’m down for it. Climate change may make this all seem timid and we’re acting like that’s not a thing.
Should they get housing when homeless Americans don’t?
How about housing both groups? Last I checked, America had a lot of space.
Whose responsibility would that be? State, federal, city, county?
How about all of them working together?
Once Spanish was a language you heard across America, people paid more attention.
This may surprise you but not all of us reject people based on skin color or ethnicity. Cities, especially, have always included people of many ethnicities and speaking many languages. You’d have to go very far back to find a tone when Spanish was uncommon in many Northern cities
Where should these 90k people live? … Should they get housing when homeless Americans don’t?
Homeless people are homeless people, and 90k is not that large a number relative to the entire population
Gregg Abbott is a human trafficker that won’t be prosecuted for breaking the law because he is above it. If you or I committed the same crime we would be in jail.
LOL! I see you’ve passed the Lemmy Bar Exam.
I can’t imagine Texas is actually going to care about the rules. What happens when a bus shows up outside specified hours or without the required notice? Is NY going to send them back or make them wait on the bus until the right time?
Violating New York City’s busing rules will result in a class B misdemeanor, the order says, which is punishable by up to 3 months in jail and fines of up to $500 for individuals and up to $2,000 for corporations. In addition, bus companies could have their buses impounded by the New York City Police Department.
That’s good enough.
Nice, thanks.
Texas will run out of bus drivers to send once a few are arrested.
Hold the drivers and bus company responsible for facilitating the crime. Make taking these contacts toxic.
Blue cities and states should embrace the migrants. Form an economic pact, where they help fund basic communal housing for the new arrivals. They can even help build future units. Many of them are from areas so poor it would seem like luxury. Give them work for the state and city as much as possible. You would be hard pressed to find more dedicated harder workers than many of these immigrants. It would help reduce budgets and worker shortages. And in a generation or two your population will grow massively along with your local economy. Take the lemons and make lemonade. I’d gladly take a lot of them over the fashy psychotic neighbors I already have.
It’s not that the blue cities don’t want the people, they just want warning and the ability to prepare for them.
For example that one stunt where a private plane was chartered to drop people off in Martha’s Vineyard with the promise of jobs. I understand it’s a well off liberal island so the idiot from Florida thought the stunt would land, but it’s an island. They dropped the people on an island with no notice, as beach season ended so no jobs, no easy resources, half the restaurants closed down. That guy should have gone to jail for using fellow human beings like that. We had plenty of room , plenty of resources on the mainland, and they could have saved money by using a bus
Let’s not forget that DeathSantis sent these immigrants from Texas there. They never touched Florida soil.
I am not a Texas sympathizer so I can forgive anyone for misreading me here.
But Texas isn’t getting warning either. This is a US problem, and rather than Abbott doing this migrant distribution to “prove a point” vengefully, we should interrupt this operation and look at it from the federal level. This is a work load we all need to share in.
Oh I despise Texas but border states shouldn’t bear all the responsibility of immigration anymore than they should be bussing these essentially helpless people to a different state to just keep them from being Texas’ problem. Two wrongs don’t make a right. I don’t know what the solution is but making it somebody else’s problem is illegal and just morally wrong, not that that has ever stopped the GOP.
border states shouldn’t bear all the responsibility of immigration
They don’t. There’s been huge federal involvement all along. Clearly Texas thinks there should be more, but looking at their history and passive-aggressive human trafficking they’re using to make their point, I tend to assume it’s just Texas being overly dramatic again, looking for more handouts again. We’ll be happy to help figure something out if you can find a grown up
Also, most “illegal immigrants” arrive in the US legally on tourist visas, around half the yearly total enters via commercial airlines.
I just want to clarify my stance. Texas cannot be trusted with the responsibility of allowing basic human dignity and human rights for the most vulnerable people, so we need to figure out how to intervene and preempt their horrible policies and operations.
Are you suggesting that a federal border crossing is unprepared to handle people crossing the border?
If people are being captured or tricked by the governor of Texas to get on a random bus, I think it follows that the US could do more to help protect these people before that occurs.
I agree 100%. Texas COULD be doing more to help themselves, but that’s not the Republican Way. They’re holding the gun in the Eric Andre meme and New York is Hannibal Buress.
I just want to clarify my stance. Texas cannot be trusted with the responsibility of allowing basic human dignity and human rights for the most vulnerable people, so we need to figure out how to intervene and preempt their horrible policies and operations.
We’re complaining about this happening. We’ve been given our warning. We need to start preparing now. And make conservatives regret it. Go ahead. Make us stronger
They’ve known about the problem. They should be asking for these future citizens and building infrastructure to create welcoming and productive communities for them.
Right. So should Texas.
But fine, if Texas wants to hot potato these people to other cities and states, let’s give these other places portions of the federal money earmarked for Texas border control so they can build the infrastructure.
We invest in people born here and spend a lot of resources getting them to contributing age. These are like busses full of free investments mostly already at adult age. Accept them. Invest in them. Embrace them as you said. It’s what this country is made to do.
Yes, this would be the best way to make it that far. Spectacularly on conservatives. Gladly and openly invite them in. Make them feel that they belong. And grow the empathetic and blue communities that conservatives hate so much.
I see in the comments someone mentioned Civil Asset Forfeiture. Yes, take the buses and make the companies providing them prove they were not involved in a crime. Bus companies will stop providing them. Do the same with the planes.
Last I heard Texas was having migrants flown into Blue states. I guess the buses were too fiscally responsible and we gotta do something with the budget surplus.
Time to transfer federal funding from Texas to the states receiving these rogue busses. These welfare states really need a reminder on what’s keeping them functioning to begin with.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Frustrated by “rogue buses” from Texas dropping off migrants by the thousands, the mayors of New York, Chicago and Denver are trying to slow the surge by requiring the bus operators to coordinate arrivals under the threat of impound, fines and even jail time.
“We’re saying that between a certain period of time you are allowed to drop off migrants in the city, but you’re going to do it at the location that we specified, so we don’t overtax our resources, our manpower, and create this orderly environment,” Adams said on CNN.
“The inhumane treatment further endangers the safety and security of asylum seekers, and adds additional strain to city departments, volunteers and mutual aid partners tasked with easing what is already a harsh transition.”
Surrounding Chicago communities are also trying to control the influx, requiring buses to obtain a permit before dropping off migrants, like in the village of Elburn, an hour outside the city.
Earlier this month, 38 migrants arrived at the Elburn stop on the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area, and were accompanied by a security guard, liaison and bus driver, according to the minutes from the village board meeting December 27.
Denver is working to put emergency rules into place that limit drop-offs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Fuja said, to ensure city staff is available to support migrants as they arrive and help them get to shelter.
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