Liberals have spent the last few years finger-pointing at Texas for mistreating migrants by bussing them north, but those same deep-blue, Democrat-dominated cities have also turned around and bussed nearly 60,000 right out again and to other blue cities.
According to a detailed article in the New York Times, Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has bussed around 120,000 migrants from his border towns to other cities, including New York City, Washington, DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, and Philadelphia.
Most of these migrants who benefited from the Texas transportation program originated in Venezuela, but many others were from a host of poverty-stricken countries.
With his bussing plan, Abbott changed the debate over immigration. Lacking the bus trips to points north, Texas would have been a longer-term destination for these border crossers, and they would have taken much longer to disseminate into other states. This would have allowed Democrats a length of time to accuse Texas of abusing migrants without having to worry about any consequences on their home turf.
But once tens of thousands of migrants began to flood into their cities, blue states were forced to step up to spend billions on housing and other freebies and put their sanctuary claims to the test. While these northern states did not mind Texas being forced to spend billions on migrants, it was another story when they were forced to join Texas in the expenditure.
Indeed, since the Texas busing program began, many of these northern cities have struck up bus programs of their own.
The Times noted that, despite their hoary claims of being “welcoming” places, many of these states are trying to get rid of migrants themselves. New York has paid off more than 35,000 migrants to leave the Empire State and to go to Illinois or Florid — and even back to Texas. Denver has tried this tactic, too. Denver has recorded sending at least 22,000 migrants somewhere else. Illinois has given free bus and plane tickets to more than 7,000 migrants, but only if they leave the Land of Lincoln.
Though the Times did not point it out, the story also shows how Joe Biden’s migrant crisis is importing poverty into America.
In a segment of the story, the paper attempts to convey that some of these migrants are realizing an “American dream” after being bused to New York City.
The paper tells the story of Cuban migrant Reydel Grau, who was one of those bussed from Texas to the Big Apple. Grau told the Times how thrilled he is to be in New York City and having a job at a meatpacking plant, making $30,000 annually.
“My American dream came true,” Grau happily told the paper. “I’m here.”
But is this such a great success story? Indeed, Grau’s $30,000 a year is fourteen thousand less than the $44,000 poverty rate for a family of four in New York City.
It is highly likely that $30,000 a year might seem like a king’s ransom to Mr. Grau, but it is officially below the family poverty level in New York City. And that means, for a family, Grau would still be taking advantage of a host of state and federal welfare programs and would be a burden on the American people, not a boon to our society.
Indeed, statistics show that 59 percent of illegal and even 52 percent of legal immigrants are on some form of welfare.
The 2022 Survey of Income & Program Participation indicates that 54% of households headed by immigrants — naturalized citizens, legal residents, & illegal immigrants — used one or more major welfare program, compared to 39% for U.S.-born households.https://t.co/yrdcDxLEVP
— Center for Immigration Studies (@CIS_org) December 19, 2023
Mr. Grau is lucky, too. He has a job. Many others are not working at all and are a 100 percent drag on our American system. The fact is that Joe Biden is importing welfare recipients and the poverty stricken into the U.S.A. by the millions.
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