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Los
Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, said more than 40 migrants
had arrived in the city and called the bus trip "a despicable
stunt that Republican Governors have grown so fond of."
Texas has bused more than 21,000 migrants to Washington, New
York City, Chicago and other cities since 2022, in what some
critics have labeled a stunt amid a national debate over the
high levels of immigrant arrivals along the southern border.
In recent weeks, two flights carrying migrants landed in
California's capital, Sacramento, as state authorities
investigated the role Florida played in transporting them from
Texas via New Mexico, according to the California attorney
general's office.
"Texas' small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the
thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico
because of President Biden's refusal to secure the border,"
Abbott said in a statement.
"Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to,
particularly now that its city leaders approved its
self-declared sanctuary city status."
Sanctuary cities adopt policies designed to boost trust between
local authorities and migrants, regardless of their immigration
status, and limit their cooperation with federal authorities on
enforcing immigration law.
On June 9, a motion to draft legislation to make Los Angeles a
"true sanctuary city" was passed by the City Council, one of its
proponents, councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, posted on Twitter.
Bass said that the city was not caught off guard and had found
out about the trip when the bus was on its way, allowing
officials to mobilize police, fire and other departments and
non-profit partners before the bus arrived.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Mary
Milliken and Christian Schmollinger)
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