With new developments aggravating the US immigration crisis, a group of House Democrats has asked the Congress to provide $50 million in federal funding to house and feed migrants who are being bused to other cities North from Texas and from Arizona.

As we discussed in our review published onSeptember 3, “The most recent controversy is related to the transfer of illegal immigrants from Texas to Washington (DC) and New York. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is funding buses to move newcomers to the two Democratic-ruled cities. Abbott's action is part of Operation Lone Star, which mobilizes human and financial resources for Texas to organize its strategy to block immigration”.

In a letter led by Reps. Jesús García (D.IL.) and Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.) and District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, 23 Democrats called on heads of the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee to add the funds to the 2023 budget for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP).

In the press release, Eleanor Norton declares that “In a cynical political stunt that has exploited both vulnerable migrants and D.C., the governors of Texas and Arizona have bused thousands of migrants to D.C., Chicago, and New York City in the last several months. I introduced a bill to provide $50 million in supplemental funding for the EFSP in the current fiscal year, and we are now requesting an additional $50 million for fiscal year 2023. The funds will be used to provide humanitarian aid through the EFSP program”.

“The EFSP provides federal funding for food, shelter and other necessities. In FY [fiscal year] 2022, Congress provided $150 million to this program for humanitarian assistance for migrants. As of July 21, 2022, approximately $85 million of this funding remained available. However, the busing of migrants to D.C., New York City and Chicago and resettlement in cities like Boston has increased funding requests across the Northeast and the Midwest. Without additional funding, the EFSP may exhaust its funding”, wrote the lawmakers.

Since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) started busing asylum seekers to Northern cities and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) followed suit, more than 10,000 people have been bused to Washington, D.C., and thousands more to New York and Chicago, according to The Hill.

According to the El Paso Times report “Gov. Greg Abbott's migrant busing program has cost $12 million since it began, amounting to an average of about $1,300 per person per ride to destinations on the East Coast”.

“Migrant advocacy groups have criticized the busing program both for its cost and for creating a sense that the migrants — asylum seekers released by border officials pending their immigration cases — represent a threat”.

“Instead of helping forge immigration solutions that work for Texas and the country, Gov. Abbott’s stunts are costly, ineffective, distracting and dangerous. They’re meant to create headlines and whip up resentment from the MAGA [Make America Great Again] base rather than create good policy or advance the best interests of Texans, let alone immigrants and asylum seekers”, said Mario Carrillo, campaign director for America’s Voice, a progressive immigration advocacy group”, according to The Hill.

Through the bus program, Republicans like Abbott are trying to prove that immigration hurts the economies of border states, despite the fact that asylum seekers often move from those states willingly.

“While Chicago remains committed to welcoming these new arrivals, we must ensure their food, shelter and other basic needs are covered”, said García, who represents a majority-Hispanic district in Chicago.