Thirteenth bus of migrants arrives at Union Station from Texas
A bus of migrant families arrived at Union Station in Los Angeles on Saturday morning from Texas, marking the 13th time since June that Republican leaders have sent immigrants from the conservative state to the city under a campaign against “sanctuary” policies.
A coalition of nonprofits and faith leaders called the L.A. Welcomes Collective is working with local officials to receive the asylum seekers and offer services.
“The city has continued to work with city departments, the county, and a coalition of nonprofit organizations, in addition to our faith partners, to execute a plan set in place earlier this year,” said Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for Mayor Karen Bass. “As we have before, when we became aware of the bus yesterday, we activated our plan.”
The Mayor’s Office said that the bus arrived at 8:55 a.m. from Texas.
In a news release issued Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state has bused “over 480 migrants to Los Angeles since June 14” because of what he and other Republicans have said is the Biden administration’s failure to secure the border. The governor has not commented publicly on the bus that arrived Saturday.
An 11th busload of migrants from Texas arrived even as the City Council was asking L.A.’s city attorney to look into suing the state of Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott.
Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesperson for The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles and the collective of nonprofits, said 46 people arrived Saturday, including 12 families and 15 children.
The migrants arrived from Brownsville, Texas, and hail from Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela, Cabrera said.
He said the first thing the L.A. Welcomes Collective does is provide food. Caseworkers then begin seeing each family one at a time to assess their needs.
“In fact, we were told that today, on this particular bus, many had not had anything to eat throughout the ride,” Cabrera said. “Some did say that they had chips and water. So they actually had their first meal in 25 hours.”
The bus is the 13th that has arrived in Los Angeles from Texas since June 14, raising concerns among local and state officials.
The Texas governor called the idea a “scam” and vowed to send more buses of migrants to Washington, D.C.
The Los Angeles City Council voted in August to explore suing the state of Texas and Abbott for sending a busload of migrants to Los Angeles and to investigate whether the actions have violated any criminal laws.
The Texas campaign is a continuation of the immigration wars playing out nationally.
This week The Times reported that the Biden administration is considering forcing some migrant families who enter the country without authorization to remain near the border in Texas while awaiting asylum screening. Abbott responded by slamming the president.
A U.S. judge also ordered Abbott to remove floating buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande that were used to block migrants from illegally crossing the border in a case the Biden administration filed against the state, according to news reports.
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