Illegal immigrants, who boarded a bus in Texas, are dropped off within view of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Aug. 11, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Saturday that the Lone Star state will keep transporting illegal immigrants to other locations both as a wake-up call to Washington and as a way of “fighting back” against the Biden administration’s lax border policies.
“They’ve been dumping people in America for a long time, a long time,” Patrick told Fox News in an interview that aired Sept. 17.
“And now Texas is saying, we’re fighting back. We’re going to send them to your neighborhood and we’re going to keep those buses coming until finally this administration wakes up,” he added.
Patrick said that Texas is now spending around $4 billion a year on border security, while normally the state spends around $400 million.
“This is a financial burden on us. But more importantly, it’s an invasion of our state,” he said.
Patrick’s remarks come as Texas has continued to bus illegal immigrants to locations out of state and as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent several migrant planes to the wealthy enclave of Martha’s Vineyard.
“Obviously there’s going to be buses like Texas is doing” and “there may be some more flights” containing illegal aliens, DeSantis told a news conference in Florida on Sept. 16.
DeSantis’s actions sparked backlash from Democrats, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) calling the decision to fly illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard “repulsive and cruel.”
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Sept. 15 that two buses filled with illegal immigrants were dropped off in Washington near Vice President Kamala Harris’s home.
Abbott said in a statement that the buses were sent in response to recent claims made by Harris—who was appointed last year by President Joe Biden to oversee U.S. border security—that the southern border is secure.
“VP Harris claims our border is ‘secure’ [and] denies the crisis,” Abbott wrote on Sept. 15. “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job [and] secure the border.”
Video footage taken from the scene showed throngs of men, women, and children carrying items including pillows, blankets, and clothing outside the gates of Harris’s official residence.
Another bus carrying illegal immigrants arrived outside Harris’s home in Washington on Sept. 17, while another wave of buses also arrived in New York City.
Texas Gov. Abbott said last week that the state had bused over 7,900 illegal immigrants to the U.S. capital since April, and over 2,200 to New York City since early August.
Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
