HOUSTON — Local immigration advocates said they have even more questions the day after Gov. Greg Abbott clarified that the state’s plan to bus migrants to Washington D.C. is voluntary.
On Wednesday, Abbott announced that measure and others to curb an expected influx at the southern border once Title 42, a federal COVID-related policy allowing border agents to immediately deport migrants, is lifted on May 23.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are preparing for up to 18,000 migrant arrests per day once that happens.
“We have potentially more people who will be crossing our border illegally by the end of this year than live in Los Angeles, America’s second-largest city,” Abbott said during a news conference.
Executive Director of FIEL Houston Cesar Espinosa, an immigrant rights group, said he still has questions.
“We’re more appalled now ... even by this,” Espinosa said when asked if his opinion of the governor’s plan changed once he learned the bus trips were voluntary. “Unless somebody really does have family members in the Washington, D.C. area, who would voluntarily say, ‘I’m gonna get on the bus to go to a place, to be dumped in the middle of Capitol Hill or outside the White House?’”
Both Espinosa and Houston immigration lawyer Sylvia Mintz believe Abbott’s plan is a politically-motivated move during an election year.
“The governor needs to make sure his base is happy,” Mintz said.
Mintz said once migrants are released from immigration, they can travel anywhere in the U.S. with the paperwork they’re given. Many choose to leave Texas.
“They designate an address where they are going,” Mintz said. “If they are minors, many times the government pays for the trip ... in some circumstances. But mainly it’s the family … that pays for those trips.”
Neither Mintz nor Espinosa expect a big increase in migrants once Title 42 ends. Espinosa said most migrants he meets have never heard of the policy, while Mintz said smuggler misinformation and conditions in the migrants’ home countries have the biggest impact on when they leave.
A spokesperson for Mayor Sylvester Turner told KHOU 11 News the mayor’s office has a call Thursday afternoon with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
However, officials said neither Houston nor Harris County currently have plans to get involved with the state’s operation.
Abbott said the National Guard is holding its first mass migration rehearsals on Thursday. He plans to announce more measures the following week.