Texas has spent more than $124 million sending buses of migrants to sanctuary cities, according to records obtained by Nexstar.

According to documents Nexstar obtained, Texas has paid $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants from the state’s border communities to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as of Jan. 10. That equals out to 2,245 buses year to date, an average of 45 migrants per bus.

Nexstar obtained the documents through a public information request to the Texas Division of Emergency Management — the agency tasked with this initiative. The majority of the payments have been made to Wynne Transportation LLC, with a handful of payments made to Transportation Management Services Inc.

  • Jay@lemmy.ca
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    11 months ago

    So that’s over $1200 a person.

    A Greyhound bus ticket from Houston Texas to Washington DC costs about $400.

    Seems like some people are making a lot of coin off this.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Imagine if $124 million was spent on Texas’ poor instead…

    Of course that would require a governor who wasn’t a Republican.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        But the crazy part is that a lot of the people that need the help and aren’t getting the help keep voting Republican anyway.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      That sounds like socialism. You wouldn’t have any Communist tendencies, now would you?

    • Chocrates@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I don’t disagree, but these asylum seekers are in Texas regardless, that $123 million should be spent housing them humanely.

  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    How the fuck does it cost 124 MILLION dollars to bus people?

    I’m entirely convinced this whole made up migrant fiasco is just a scheme by Abbot and DeSantis to funnel money to benefactors, because thats the only way I can imagine these plane and bus trips costing so much goddamn money.

    • Argonne@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s costing NYC billions to house them in hotels so I’d say it’s a win for Texas here. Lots of outrage here in NY over it. I can see it flipping some local elections

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        It’s not going to flip any local elections except the mayoral race. No one blames local council people for the actions of freeloading southern states. The money is going to come from the federal government because this is a federal issue. Obviously Republicans in the House do not want to pay the bills their friends in Texas and Florida created.

        Mayor Adams however is not doing a good job lobbying Congress for this money. He’s also being investigated for campaign finance issues. The FBI or Justice Department already took his phones. Something about taking money from Turkish Universities or something weird. He actually had meetings with Congress to ask them for money and left to deal with his legal issues. Whatever.

        • Argonne@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Texas is sending the migrants that want to come to the US. Local politicians said NYC was a “sanctuary city” and now here they come. It’s a nice thing in theory but breaks down in practice. Once the climate migration starts if NYC is still a sanctuary we are fucked

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    I’m a Republican trying to Protect The Children and I’m MUCH happier with my Tax Dollars going to HUMAN TRAFFICKING then to FEEDING STARVING AMERICAN CHILDREN!

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      11 months ago

      If it gets voters off their asses, I don’t care what justification they use to get people pissed off about it.

  • conorm@feddit.uk
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    11 months ago

    telling them all to walk back to their boats and fuck off is a lot cheaper than 124 million dollars

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    According to documents Nexstar obtained, Texas has paid $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants from the state’s border communities to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as of Jan. 10.

    Nexstar obtained the documents through a public information request to the Texas Division of Emergency Management — the agency tasked with this initiative.

    The Republican governor began sending busloads of migrants outside of the state in April 2022, saying it will ease the burden of immigration on Texas cities.

    Taxpayers are footing about 99.6% of the total cost of these buses, coming from money already appropriated by the Texas Legislature for border security under Operation Lone Star.

    In September 2022, busing records from TDEM that Nexstar obtained showed the costs included the amount charged to the state for bus mileage, driver pay and security personnel — which had been the most expensive aspect.

    At the time, a senior spokesperson with TDEM told Nexstar the state saw security as a necessary precaution to take, in order to protect “passengers and drivers as they make a cross-country trip.”


    The original article contains 357 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 49%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Kaboom@reddthat.com
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    11 months ago

    Yes, and its very effective to get politicians to realize that illegal immigration is a bad thing.

    How much does public transportation cost? The schools? Similar thing.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      11 months ago

      Are you seriously arguing that trafficking humans is justified politicking, because roads and education cost money to grow and maintain?

      Jesus fucking Christ, bruh…

        • Telorand@reddthat.com
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          11 months ago

          Oh really? It’s not trafficking? Prove it. Because I can prove that it is.

          Human Trafficking, according to Britannica:

          Human trafficking, form of modern-day slavery involving the illegal transport of individuals by force or deception for the purpose of labour, sexual exploitation, or activities in which others benefit financially.

          Human Trafficking, according to Miriam-Webster:

          Organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited (as by being forced into prostitution or involuntary labor).

          Human Trafficking, according to the UN:

          Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.

          Also, don’t bother being pedantic about the word “profit.” We both know politicking and remaining in power is a profit motive on its own.

          Additionally, why do you keep going on about public transportation? Do you think Greyhound is public transportation? Because it’s not. It is “public” in that it transports the public, but it’s 100% a private corporation. Chartering an interstate bus to trick people dressed for South Texas weather to go to New York in shorts and a T-shirt in order to win political points is by definition transportation and exploitation for profit.

          Human. Fucking. Trafficking. QED. And they spent Texans’ tax dollars to do it.

          But please, do go off about how coercing humans with few rights and little representation for political points is justified.

            • Telorand@reddthat.com
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              11 months ago

              No, answer the original question. You don’t get to change topics as a defensive tactic.

              Prove how it’s not trafficking. Provide definitions and evidence to support your position or admit that you’re lying. Then we can address other topics or points of contention.

                • Bibliotectress@lemm.ee
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                  11 months ago

                  Not who you asked, but this was so well documented in so many news articles that I thought it was basic knowledge. I googled it for you.

                  https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-19/migrants-transported-california-texas-abbott-desantis

                  Eight Venezuelan migrants were flown last week from Texas to Sacramento with little cash — some without shoes — and the men have no idea why they were sent or who paid for the flights, an advocacy group said.

                  The men, who crossed the border in Laredo, Texas, had intentions to travel to New York, Florida or Utah and said they were confused as to why they were sent to California, where none of them had contacts or prospects.

                  https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/15/greg-abbott-texas-kamala-harris-migrant-bus/

                  Migrants landing in Martha’s Vineyard told reporters that they didn’t know where they were, that they thought they were going to different destinations or that they were lured on to the planes with the promise of being able to get work papers. Local officials said they were given no advanced warning about the migrants but would be providing resources to support them.

                  https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/30/us/asylum-seekers-texas-city-mayors/index.html

                  “Border Patrol will tell people that they can only wear one piece of clothing, so they strip themselves of their jackets and their warm clothing,” he said. “And that’s how from the point of contact with Border Patrol, to the point of being released in Chicago, or New York, or wherever it might be, that’s how they are traveling, oftentimes without shoelaces, because they’re told that they have to remove them.”

                  “He (Abbott) is now sending buses outside of the City of Chicago, in some instances, a hundred miles away where people are being dropped off … they’re being told they are in the City of Chicago, literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere,” Johnson said on “CNN This Morning” Friday. “I find that to be inhumane and unconscionable.”

                  https://news.wttw.com/2023/12/20/texas-flies-150-migrants-chicago-private-plane-more-buses-expected-police-mayor-s-office

                  City officials are working to ensure all of the migrants have a healthy and dignified place to live, and blamed Abbott for creating the conditions that led to the boy’s still-unexplained death, Johnson said. Many migrants arrive in Chicago sick and traumatized, he added.

            • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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              11 months ago

              https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/1436549/flat-out-lying-abbott-team-denies-migrants-must-sign-nda-to-board-buses/

              “It’s clear the migrants did not give their consent in any real way to be sent here. As many as 40% have family or close relations in other parts of the country who could provide them accommodation, but the migrants were not given the option of going to those places.” Levine wrote. “Not only is the State of Texas not coordinating with NYC, they have made migrants sign NDAs to ensure we get no advance warning of bus arrivals.”

    • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Spending that money on political stunts that treat immigrants as pawns made us realize what an absolute piece of shit Abbott, Republicans, and their supporters are. The lesson here is that Conservatives see brown people as less than human.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      If the politicians who say they are against illegal immigration really are, why do they never talk about the people who hire illegal immigrants and give them their whole reason to do so?

      It would be pretty easy to go after them. Just have agents pose as illegals and see who hires them.

    • kamenoko@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      You have no idea how America was built, do you? Cheap immigrant labor from the wrong kind of whites and slavery if you were too brown.

      These ghouls are just out to enrich themselves and don’t care how much human misery it takes to achieve it.