Monday 3 October 2022 08:15 PM Democrats also bus thousands of migrants to northern cities - but quietly trends now
The Democrat-led border city of El Paso, Texas, has been quietly working with the Biden administration to spend millions of dollars of federal money busing thousands of migrants to northern sanctuary cities like New York and Chicago, DailyMail.com can reveal.
While the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona – Greg Abbott and Doug Ducey – have made headlines sending migrants to liberal northern cities to spotlight the crisis on the southern frontier, El Paso is doing much the same, just without the fanfare.
For some, El Paso's migrant-busing policy showcases how Democrat-led administrations are downplaying the crisis on America's border, speedily processing thousands of arrivals each day at a warehouse in the desert and packing them out on buses north.
It also opens up the administration of President Joe Biden to accusations of hypocrisy – for criticizing the migrant-busing policies of Abbott and Ducey while cooperating when liberal El Paso does much the same, albeit under a different label.
'The hypocrisy on display right now by Democrats and coastal elites is a thing to behold,' said R.J. Hauman, an analyst at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a policy group.
'Transporting illegal aliens into American communities is either perfectly fine or inhumane. It just depends who sends them and where they go.'
El Paso helps more than 500 migrants every day board buses to New York and Chicago and assists with travel plans elsewhere across the U.S.
The city moved its migrant problem to a processing facility on the edge of town. Previously, a surge of new arrivals overwhelmed the downtown area
Migrants await their free bus rides north at El Paso's 'welcome center'. Many of the new arrivals have fled flawed leftist regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua
The frontier city is battling a surge of migrants, with some 1,500 crossing daily, many fleeing flawed leftist regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, overwhelming federal processing hubs and spawning chaotic scenes of migrants sleeping rough on downtown sidewalks.
City and county officials have responded by spending millions of dollars opening 'welcome centers' to get migrants out of El Paso, after they've been lawfully released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), often with far-off court appearance dates scheduled.
El Paso city spends $250,000-$300,000 daily on feeding and arranging travel for migrants and lodging them in hotels or shelters, and last month opened a transit center in an industrial zone on the city's northeastern desert edge.
There, migrants with means can book their own flights or buses for onward travel. Cash-strapped newcomers get free rides aboard charters. More than 5,000 arrivals have been sent north aboard more than 115 such buses since August 23.
Downtown El Paso has in recent weeks witnessed chaotic scenes of migrants sleeping on the streets, after the surge of new arrivals overwhelmed the area's federal-run processing facilities
El Paso city spends $250,000-$300,000 daily on feeding, sheltering and arranging travel for migrants. Pictured: Venezuelan arrivals at one of the city's shelters, Annunciation House
At a recent visit to the center, migrants from Venezuela and Cuba told DailyMail.com of grueling overland journeys to reach America and of plans to meet friends and relatives across the U.S., find work and send money to needy relatives back home.
The city council recently voted to allocate $4 million to charter more buses over the coming months – an eye-watering sum for a relatively poor city – on the understanding that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would reimburse the money.
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El Paso county officials, meanwhile, plan to open another edge-of-city migrant travel center costing some $6.8 million, also using federal funds, by the city's main airport, aimed at helping migrants with money connect with friends or relatives elsewhere in the U.S.
Mario D'Agostino, El Paso's deputy city manager, told DailyMail.com that busing thousands of arrivals was a 'humanitarian effort in getting them to the location where they want to be'.
'They're on a journey to the United States, whether it's New York City or Chicago, they have told us El Paso is just the crossing point,' he added.
The policy came about through coordination between El Paso, its Democratic representative in Congress, Veronica Escobar, the White House and FEMA, which will at least in part reimburse the city, D'Agostino said.
The White House and Escobar's office did not answer DailyMail.com's interview requests.
El Paso officials distance themselves from the migrant-moving schemes of Abbott, Ducey and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who last month sent a planeload of some 50 Venezuelans to Martha's Vineyard, an upscale liberal island retreat in Massachusetts.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent a planeload of some 50 Venezuelans to Martha's Vineyard, an upscale liberal island retreat in Massachusetts
Joe Biden's presidency could easily end with seven million or more new migrants in America – a population larger than the size of Los Angeles and Chicago combined.
El Paso's buses, they say, operate in coordination with officials in New York and Chicago – who get advance notice of arrivals and the names
