Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star has stopped sending migrants to three cities.
No additional passengers from Texas have been dropped off in Philadelphia, Los Angeles or Washington, D.C., as part of the governor's busing program, according to data released by Abbott's office earlier this month.
The number of migrants in the program have also declined over the last six months, dropping by more than fourfold since the second half of 2023. The state figures, analyzed by the Houston Chronicle, show that while Abbott's program sent about 77,000 migrants to six Democratic-led cities between August to December of last year, it has only bussed about 17,000 to three cities this year—New York City, Chicago and Denver.
The decreased participation in Abbott's program come as the governor has insisted that his office is continuing to send migrants from Texas' border to "sanctuary" cities with Democratic mayors to prevent his state from having to carry "the burdens imposed by open-border advocates in other parts of the country."
Newsweek reached out to Abbott's office via email for comment.
"Unless and until Joe Biden does finally begin to enforce immigration laws I will continue to bus those migrants to sanctuary cities across the United States of America," Abbott said while delivering remarks at the 2024 National Rifle Association convention in Dallas last month.
In April, he insisted during a speech in New York that Texas was "going to maintain this process until we get a new president this next November who will secure the border of the United States of America."
Despite criticisms from Democrats, who accuse Abbott of using migrants as "political pawns," the governor has repeatedly defended his program, saying that all passengers do so voluntarily and sign waivers before boarding.
According to the governor's office, Texas has transported over 12,500 migrants to Washington, D.C., over 45,700 migrants to New York City, over 36,900 migrants to Chicago, over 3,400 migrants to Philadelphia, over 19,200 migrants to Denver and over 1,500 migrants to Los Angeles.
It's unclear why Texas hasn't been sending as many migrants in recent months, but the number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection encounters has dropped, which could mean fewer migrants to send, and the program itself has faced legal setbacks that may depress its operations.
Abbott has taken credit for the dip in illegal crossings, boasting in a press release last week that crossings have decreased by 74 percent since the launch of Operation Lone Star.
His program, however, has spurred action from Democratic mayors whose cities have become overwhelmed by the migrants that Texas has transported.
In December, New York City Mayor Eric Adams implemented new restrictions requiring bus companies to drop off passengers during certain hours and specific locations. A month later, the city began suing those companies after they tried to get around the new restrictions by leaving migrants in nearby New Jersey outside the designated hours. As a result, nine bus companies have stopped accepting migrant passengers from Texas while the lawsuits play out in court.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
