Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference on Wednesday, April 6, in response to the Biden Administration’s decision to lift the pandemic border restrictions known as Title 42 on May 23. Due to the record number of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border into the U.S., the state of Texas has found itself overwhelmed and Gov. Abbott is concerned this crisis will get significantly worse.

Illegal immigrants near Capitol building after being bussed in from Texas

In response to the Biden administration ending Title 42, Abbott announced that “Texas will be taking its own precedented actions this month.”

Among a series of strategies covered at the press conference, the one that generated the most buzz was Abbott’s announcement that Texas will begin using charter buses to ship illegal immigrants to Washington D.C.

Gov. Abbott announced his plans, saying,

“To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed by hoards of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden administration, Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to Washington D.C. We are sending them to the United States Capitol where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.”

The first of these buses arrived in D.C. today, just one week after Abbott’s announcement, dropping off dozens of illegal immigrants just blocks away from the US Capitol. As the immigrants got off the bus, officials cut off wristbands, as shown in video footage captured by Fox News.

WATCH:

The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) is the agency charged with transporting these illegal immigrants, and they reported that each bus has the capacity and supplies to transport up to 40 immigrants to D.C.

Immigrants get wristbands scanned by officials before being released into D.C.

In a press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Abbott’s plans to send immigrants to Washington a “publicity stunt.”

“I’m not aware of what authority the governor would be doing that under,” said Psaki. “I think it’s pretty clear this is a publicist stunt. His own office admits that a migrant would need to voluntarily be transported, and he can’t compel them to because, again, enforcement of our country’s immigration laws lies with the federal government, not a state.”

However, it seems that Abbott, at least for now, has been successful in finding immigrants who have voluntarily agreed to go to D.C., showing that this is more than just a mere “publicity stunt.”

Now, Psaki has been forced to “eat her own words”, as Abbott follows through on his promise.

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