Texas sends busload of 42 migrants to Los Angeles

A busload of migrants sent by the state of Texas arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the action on social media, saying the transportation of migrants to L.A. was “much-needed relief” for the border.

The group of 42 people, including eight children, arrived after a 23-hour bus ride without food, according to Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of communications for immigrant rights group CHIRLA.

Abbott said in a news release that “Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border.

“Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to,” the Republican governor said, “particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status.”

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The migrants made a stop at Union Station before being taken to a welcoming center at a nearby church.

Cabrera was at Union Station when the group arrived. He said CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights-Los Angeles, had been tipped off Tuesday night about the migrants’ pending arrival. He said the travelers originated from Venezuela, Guatemala and Honduras, with two of African descent.

One of the Guatemalan migrants has a court date scheduled in New York, he added.

“That’s where the cruelty of this process is unbounded,” he said. “That’s why Los Angeles made sure that we were coordinated and prepared to deal with the human beings behind this political charade.”

At the center, the migrants were able to rest and eat, he said, adding that attorneys were made available. “We know that they’re traumatized and they need a number of services,” he said.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez told The Times on Wednesday that the church was serving as a triage center, with nonprofit organizations and the Community Investment for Families Department among those on hand. Hernandez said migrants were getting services, and some were being connected with relatives.

Hernandez said there were families including “months-old babies that the governor brought over.”

“They were essentially dehumanized,” she said. “They were used by a weak politician as a political stunt.”

The city’s Emergency Operations Center was activated Wednesday afternoon to assist in coordinating city, county and state partners, along with local community organizations, officials said. People needing short-term shelter were to be accommodated by the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.

Mayor Karen Bass was in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for an event but issued a statement, saying the arrival of the migrants “did not catch us off guard.”

“It is abhorrent that an American elected official is using human beings as pawns in his cheap political games,” Bass said in a statement.

“Shortly after I took office, I directed city departments to begin planning in the event Los Angeles was on the receiving end of a despicable stunt that Republican governors have grown so fond of,” Bass said.

“Los Angeles is not a city motivated by hate or fear and we absolutely will not be swayed or moved by petty politicians playing with human lives,” Bass said.

Councilmember Kevin De León, whose district includes downtown Los Angeles, said in a statement Wednesday that the move was “heartless exploitation” but added that it was “not shocking” and reflected “a tremendous lack of leadership.”

Angélica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, said her organization often receives false reports of migrants arriving from out of state but confirmed the bus was coming Wednesday morning. The group arrived at Union Station at 4:30 p.m., she said, and a coalition of immigrant rights groups and city and county officials were prepared.

“We do this every day. We know how to welcome and receive individuals who are simply wanting a better life,” Salas said. “At this moment, we don’t know what information they were given to get on the bus. All we know is they’re here now.”

Salas said she greeted many of the migrants, including weary families with their young ones.

“Gov. Abbott sent babies, sent toddlers, sent school-aged children,” she said. “This is who was on this bus.”

Abbott announced his busing plan in April 2022, with migrants sent to cities including Chicago, Washington and New York.

Tiffany Burrow, director of operations for the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition, which has helped migrants arriving in Del Rio, Texas, book travel elsewhere on the border, became a willing participant in Abbott’s busing plan.

Many migrants paroled by border agents have little money for travel and are unfamiliar with the vast geography of the U.S.

Although Burrow doesn’t always endorse the political message behind Abbott’s busing campaign, she and other migrant advocates have supported the utility of the buses — they get many people where they need to go, she said.

Burrow shows migrants a map of the U.S. and explains where the Texas state buses drop off.

She and her team ensure that every migrant who boards has given consent, and has a good reason to board — for instance, she ensures that no one trying to reach Florida, for example, boards a bus to Chicago.

Very few migrants said their final destinations were in California, Burrow said.

But last week, Burrow was approached by the Texas state government to organize a bus to California. She replied that it wouldn’t be possible.

“If we had a lot of people that were going to California, then it would have made sense to do a bus — but it did not make sense for me, because I did not have anybody,” Burrow said.

Additionally, the bus that arrived Wednesday in Los Angeles had departed from McAllen, Texas, which was added to the busing program just last month. Previously, the vast majority of buses had departed from Del Rio.

Burrow said she knew little about the process for informed consent in McAllen.

“My concern is that I haven’t seen paperwork that says their final destination is California,” she says. She’s unsure if everyone who boarded the bus in McAllen really did want to make it out west.

Abbott’s announcement comes after two planes carrying migrants arrived in Sacramento with transportation arranged by the state of Florida.

In the first flight, more than a dozen migrants from South America were flown on a chartered jet from New Mexico and dropped off in Sacramento.

Documents carried by the migrants appeared to show that the flight was arranged through the Florida Division of Emergency Management and that it was part of the state’s program to relocate migrants, mostly from Texas, to other states, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said. Florida officials later took responsibility for the chartered flights.

Some migrants last week told The Times how contractors working for the state of Florida offered them seats on a private plane to California.

Lindsay Toczylowski, an attorney and executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said Wednesday they were reviewing the documents the migrants carried to understand their cases and help process them through the court system. All are recent arrivals, she said.

“We have families who have come through this situation who have other family members that they were separated from at the border,” she said. “We’re in the process of trying to reunify those families.”

As they wrapped up a news conference outside the church, someone pulled in a cart of toys for the kids staying there — Play-Doh, Monopoly, Jenga and a toy Lightning McQueen for the children to play with.

Times staff writer Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.