Governor Greg Abbott geared on Wednesday for a fireside chat at a far right event this week in the midst of a record heat wave after vowing the day before to keep busing migrants to the nation's capital city until the federal government starts securing the border the way that he says the state is doing in its absence despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
As Abbott announced plans to appear on Thursday afternoon on a panel with two others at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hilton Anatole in downtown Dallas, he rehashed an attack that he's aimed in recent days at the mayors of Washington D.C. and New York City in response to their criticism of the Texas migrant busing and dumping program.
An analysis of U.S. Border Patrol data found that the number of migrants who the state has transported at taxpayer expense to Washington D.C. represents somewhere between 1 percent and 1.5 percent of the total count of people who were apprehended by federal agents in Texas since Abbott hatched the busing program in April.
While the numbers show that the migrant busings have had an imperceptible effect on illegal border crossings, Abbott appeared to be reveling nonetheless in the problems and chaos he's caused in the District of Columbia in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday.
"Believe me - we have more buses headed their way as we speak," Abbott said. "But Sean this just shows the hypocrisy of these liberal leaders up in the northeast who think that that border crisis created by Joe Biden - huh, that's fine as long as it's Texas that has to deal with it.
"But as soon as they have to deal with the real consequences of Biden's border caused crisis - they're up in arms calling for the National Guard - as you point out - dealing with just a tiny fraction of what we have to deal with every single day," Abbott contended.
As Democrat Beto O'Rourke appeared before capacity crowds at events on Wednesday at the Galveston Railroad Museum and the Guadalajara Bar and Grill in Lake Jackson, Abbott devoted his attention to firing broadsides from the Governor's Mansion at Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York City Mayor Eric Adams - with two tweets on Tuesday by mid-afternoon for a total of three in the past 24 hours.
Abbott didn't mention in the Twitter barrage that Adams had spurned an invitation that the governor issued last week to him Bowser to be his guest in Texas for a first-hand view of the crisis he says the state police and military are fighting ever day. Adams, who's Black, is a veteran law enforcement officer who served as a captain in the New York City police department before his election as mayor in December.
"Instead of a photo-op at the border, we hope Governor Abbott will focus his energy and resources on providing support and resources to asylum seekers in Texas as we have been hard at work doing in New York City," Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said in a statement. "We continue to work with federal partners to receive additional financial resources immediately, but will never turn our backs on those in need who are arriving here."
Abbott has elaborated on how he plans to spotlight the immigration challenges that Texas faces. Abbott so far this week has declared that Texas is securing the border with Operation Lone Star as a result of the Biden's administration's steadfast refusal to do so in a way that meets the governor's standards. But the governor also has insisted in recent days that the border is not secure in a direct contradiction to other claims.
The governor touted his performance on Fox News with a video that showed a bus from Texas dropping migrants off in Washington D.C. including several women who were carrying infants and young children with nowhere to go in the country that's their new home. Abbott hasn't commented, however, on reports that the Texas migrant busing ploy has been an increasing burden on churches near the U.S. Capitol and across DC as well.
Abbott said in an email today that he plans to participate in the CPAC panel with the group's chairman Matt Schlapp and Mercedes Schlapp - a former National Rifle Association board member who worked for Donald Trump as a communications consultant and Fox News as a contributor.
Information to substantiate claims on state and federal law enforcement efforts at the border can be found in the links below if it exists.
Mayor Bowser & Mayor Adams need to see firsthand what Texas is experiencing at the border.
If we educate more leaders, maybe the federal government will finally step up & do its constitutional duty to keep our nation safe. pic.twitter.com/TfCMeEA04S
