Report: Texas undermined nonprofits’ attempts to aid migrants bused out of state

Texas officials quietly tried to thwart work by immigrant advocacy groups to ease the transition for migrants bused to Democrat-led cities as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s immigration crackdown, according to a CBS News investigation.

In September, officials with the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), which oversees the migrant buses, told the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition — a group helping nonprofits in destination cities prepare for the arriving migrants — that it would no longer offer logistical information on the trips, CBS reports, citing interviews with people involved.

The state agency also stopped observing local curfews that were timed to prevent buses from arriving in cities such as New York and Washington, D.C., in the middle of the night, according the the report.

TDEM spokesman Seth Christensen told CBS his agency “is not involved in the coordination” with aid groups that seek to soften the landing for migrants arriving in the new cities.

Even so, Tiffany Burrow, who runs Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition, told the news organization that TDEM officials initially shared logistical details so she could facilitate arrivals. At first, she reportedly worked with the state in hopes the coordination could help the migrants get settled while their asylum cases play out.

However, Burrow has since ended her cooperation with TDEM.

“I was the one that was providing migrants for their buses,” she told CBS. “If we’re not gonna do this in a coordinated effort, then it really loses its usefulness for migrants.”

Since Abbott initiated the busing program in April 2022, Texas has dispatched come 100,000 migrants to Democrat-led cities, according to CBS. Mayors in those cities have pushed back at Abbott, arguing that the trips are overwhelming their resources and creating chaos.

Late last year, Chicago began impounding Texas’ migrant buses that arrive in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, New York filed a $700 million lawsuit against bus companies that have dropped migrants there. 

Texas has spent more than $100 million on Abbott’s busing program since it began, CBS reports, citing bus charter contracts it obtained.

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This article appears in Dec 27, 2023 – Jan 9, 2024.