By Costas Pitas
LOS ANGELES Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday said the first group of migrants bused from his state to Los Angeles had arrived in the California city, the latest move by Republicans opposed to Democratic President Joe Biden's immigration policies.
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)