Democrats have started busing migrants: NPR

Arizona Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, middle, is flanked behind Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma, left, and Arizona Senate Speaker Warren Petersen, right, during of the Hobbs State of the State Address on January 9, 2023 in Phoenix.

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Arizona Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, middle, is flanked behind Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma, left, and Arizona Senate Speaker Warren Petersen, right, during of the Hobbs State of the State Address on January 9, 2023 in Phoenix.

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When the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona began deporting immigrants from their states last year, they said it was to protest the Democrats’ “reckless” federal immigration policies.

Democrats called the tactic dehumanizing, especially when migrants were misled about their destination. But some Democratic-led cities and states later warmed to the practice, including Arizona’s new governor, Katie Hobbs.

“If we spend money to transport people by bus, why not just take them to their final destination? Hobbs told reporters at a recent press conference.

Here is how the migrant transport policy has evolved.

Immigrants have always moved

People have always traveled to the United States once they have sought asylum at the border.

In the border town of Del Rio, Texas, for example, the nonprofit organization Val Verde Humanitarian Border Coalition receives immigrants directly from the United States Border Patrol post.

From there, they have few options to get to their final destination.

“You have to understand the place here. The closest major city is San Antonio. It’s a three-hour drive,” says Tiffany Burrow, VVHBC’s chief operating officer.

Two Greyhound buses depart from Del Rio daily. The local airport recently lost service after American Airlines withdrew. The association also works directly with a private transport company. VVHBC would usually help newcomers figure out where they should go and then a family member would buy them a ticket.

But in 2022, nonprofits and border assistance groups struggled to meet the basic needs of the record number of people trying to come to the United States, according to federal data.

State-operated buses are “incredibly helpful,” Burrow says.

Most do not stay in the cities they are transported to, with the exception of New York

Some bus passengers also enjoy the free ride.

“I didn’t know the ticket to come here was $500,” says Selina, a migrant from Chile who took a public bus from Texas to Philadelphia. NPR is not using his name because his immigration case is pending.

Selina, who wants to meet her brother-in-law in New Jersey, tells NPR in Spanish that when she arrived in the United States, a guard told her about the free buses and showed her where to line up to get one. . Otherwise, “I couldn’t pay,” she says.

Passengers disembarking from a bus sent to Philadelphia by the state of Texas on December 5, 2022.

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Passengers disembarking from a bus sent to Philadelphia by the state of Texas on December 5, 2022.

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This reality contributed to changing the policy of transporting immigrants. “Something that looked like a punishment towards immigrants for political gain has suddenly turned around because immigrants are rational people,” says Muzaffar Chishti, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.

Not only could they get a free ticket to a family or shelter, but “they found these towns were actually quite hospitable to immigrants,” Chishti says.

Government agencies and nonprofits in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Chicago and New York received tens of thousands of immigrants bused in from the border. In many cases, they provide food, shelter, legal services and transportation assistance.

Some arrivals follow one another quickly. In Philadelphia and DC, between 5% and 10% of arrivals were staying in shelters or subsidized housing as of mid-January, according to data provided by city officials. Chicago officials did not provide enough data to make the comparison.

In New York, where there is a “right to shelter” law, more than 26,000 asylum seekers have been staying in city-run shelters since Jan. 8, according to a city spokesperson.

Democrats have started to embrace the process

Democrat-run cities and states began welcoming immigrants by bus last year — with some tweaks.

In El Paso, the Democratic administration ferried more than 13,000 people in the fall, outpacing Texas state buses in some cases.

At the time, Mayor Oscar Leeser said he was coordinating with host city officials, while Governor Abbott was not. However, the city shut down its own bus program in October, and the only government-supported bus program is currently run by the state of Texas, according to a city spokesperson.

Then, in December, thousands of people started showing up alone in Denver. The city set up emergency shelters when temperatures dropped outside. But he also bought individual bus tickets for 1,900 people, helping them travel to 35 states, according to data provided by local authorities.

“It comes with food, shelter, clothing and toiletries. These bus tickets are part of this huge humanitarian effort,” said Josh Rosenblum, spokesman for the city and county.

Politics remains tricky

Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis announced in early January that the state would also charter buses from Denver to other cities. But a few days later, he discontinued that program, after the mayors of Chicago and New York asked him to stop.

In a statement, Polis directed the blame elsewhere. “The federal government and Congress, unfortunately, have failed the American people on immigration reform and border security,” he said, while urging the Biden administration and Congress to reserve funds to states that help migrants.

Chishti says the bus controversy is a “wake-up call” for politicians and hopes it will encourage a more coordinated, federally backed system to help migrants move around the country.

In Arizona, another revamped bus program is in the works. Murphy Hebert, director of communications for the Arizona governor’s office, says the new administration has an obligation to use the $15 million allocated by the legislature to transport immigrants away from border areas.

“We are reallocating these funds to a more effective and humanitarian program,” she says.

This could include chartering buses or other forms of transportation. While there’s no timeline for the rollout, “it’s a priority,” Hebert says.

Preliminary federal data for 2023 shows a drop in the number of people crossing into the United States, which takes away some of the pressure to figure it out.