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submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Texas has spent more than $124 million sending buses of migrants to sanctuary cities, according to records obtained by Nexstar.

According to documents Nexstar obtained, Texas has paid $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants from the state’s border communities to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as of Jan. 10. That equals out to 2,245 buses year to date, an average of 45 migrants per bus.

Nexstar obtained the documents through a public information request to the Texas Division of Emergency Management — the agency tasked with this initiative. The majority of the payments have been made to Wynne Transportation LLC, with a handful of payments made to Transportation Management Services Inc.

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[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 129 points 9 months ago

So that's over $1200 a person.

A Greyhound bus ticket from Houston Texas to Washington DC costs about $400.

Seems like some people are making a lot of coin off this.

[-] TWeaK@lemm.ee 69 points 9 months ago

Yes, and those people are friends with Abbott. Same thing happened with DeSantis and that chartered flight to Martha's Vineyard, which incidentally also took migrants from Texas and had nothing to do with Florida (whose taxpayer money paid for it).

[-] Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 18 points 9 months ago

Yeah, did he buy one of those companies first, because it would be a missed corrupt opportunity if he didn't.

[-] TWeaK@lemm.ee 21 points 9 months ago

Politicians don't own the companies, they're just friends with them and get kickbacks in exchange. Eg give my bus company a very lucrative state government contract, I'll give you free chartered flights.

[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 14 points 9 months ago

At the least probably buddies. Wynne is owned by Avalon Motorcoach, who is in turn owned by Virgin-Fish Inc. which is owned by private individuals. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/02/22/2023-03666/avalon-motor-coaches-llc-acquisition-of-control-wynne-transportation-llc

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 8 points 9 months ago

Gotta pay off the traffickers doing the actual driving so they don't stab you in the back, you know?

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 70 points 9 months ago

Imagine if $124 million was spent on Texas' poor instead...

Of course that would require a governor who wasn't a Republican.

[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago

Can't be helping people, they might start to think they're human! /s

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

But the crazy part is that a lot of the people that need the help and aren't getting the help keep voting Republican anyway.

[-] billiam0202@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

That sounds like socialism. You wouldn't have any Communist tendencies, now would you?

[-] Chocrates@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

I don't disagree, but these asylum seekers are in Texas regardless, that $123 million should be spent housing them humanely.

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 43 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

How the fuck does it cost 124 MILLION dollars to bus people?

I'm entirely convinced this whole made up migrant fiasco is just a scheme by Abbot and DeSantis to funnel money to benefactors, because thats the only way I can imagine these plane and bus trips costing so much goddamn money.

[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 32 points 9 months ago

It's $1246 per migrant - what fucking bus ticket costs that much? It's absolutely a money-siphoning scam.

[-] dirthawker0@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Greyhound is less than $200 from Eagle Pass to the NY Port Authority.

[-] Chocrates@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

For sure, but treating them humanely would cost more, before the grift.

[-] Argonne@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago

It's costing NYC billions to house them in hotels so I'd say it's a win for Texas here. Lots of outrage here in NY over it. I can see it flipping some local elections

[-] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

It's not going to flip any local elections except the mayoral race. No one blames local council people for the actions of freeloading southern states. The money is going to come from the federal government because this is a federal issue. Obviously Republicans in the House do not want to pay the bills their friends in Texas and Florida created.

Mayor Adams however is not doing a good job lobbying Congress for this money. He's also being investigated for campaign finance issues. The FBI or Justice Department already took his phones. Something about taking money from Turkish Universities or something weird. He actually had meetings with Congress to ask them for money and left to deal with his legal issues. Whatever.

[-] Argonne@lemmy.world -4 points 9 months ago

Texas is sending the migrants that want to come to the US. Local politicians said NYC was a "sanctuary city" and now here they come. It's a nice thing in theory but breaks down in practice. Once the climate migration starts if NYC is still a sanctuary we are fucked

[-] crypticthree@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

Come on it's only $55k per bus...

[-] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 25 points 9 months ago

I'm a Republican trying to Protect The Children and I'm MUCH happier with my Tax Dollars going to HUMAN TRAFFICKING then to FEEDING STARVING AMERICAN CHILDREN!

[-] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

Republicans don't care about children

[-] count_dongulus@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago

Is this not a human trafficking operation? What is the FBI doing with their thumbs in their asses?

[-] mirror_slap@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago

BUT WE OWNED THE LIBS!

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago

Yeah, THAT'S the problem; the human trafficking is too EXPENSIVE 🤦

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 4 points 9 months ago

If it gets voters off their asses, I don't care what justification they use to get people pissed off about it.

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

TX immigration policy is bussin AF frfr /s

[-] Chocrates@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago
[-] conorm@feddit.uk 5 points 9 months ago

telling them all to walk back to their boats and fuck off is a lot cheaper than 124 million dollars

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 9 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


According to documents Nexstar obtained, Texas has paid $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants from the state’s border communities to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as of Jan. 10.

Nexstar obtained the documents through a public information request to the Texas Division of Emergency Management — the agency tasked with this initiative.

The Republican governor began sending busloads of migrants outside of the state in April 2022, saying it will ease the burden of immigration on Texas cities.

Taxpayers are footing about 99.6% of the total cost of these buses, coming from money already appropriated by the Texas Legislature for border security under Operation Lone Star.

In September 2022, busing records from TDEM that Nexstar obtained showed the costs included the amount charged to the state for bus mileage, driver pay and security personnel — which had been the most expensive aspect.

At the time, a senior spokesperson with TDEM told Nexstar the state saw security as a necessary precaution to take, in order to protect “passengers and drivers as they make a cross-country trip.”


The original article contains 357 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 49%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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