Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced he has dropped off the first bus load of migrants in Los Angeles after the Californian city declared itself a sanctuary for asylum seekers.
A total of 21,600 migrants have been bussed across the country to Democrat-run cities during Abbott's transportation scheme. The latest group were dropped off at LA's Union Station this evening.
LA joins New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Denver as locations that migrants have been shipped to after crossing into Texas from Mexico.
Earlier this month, Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis flew two planes of migrants to Sacramento in a bid to ease migrant tensions in his own state.
Governor Abbott said in a statement tonight: '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.
'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.
'Our border communities are on the frontlines of President Biden's border crisis, and Texas will continue providing this much-needed relief until he steps up to do his job and secure the border.'
In April 2022, Governor Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to charter buses to transport migrants from Texas to Washington, D.C.
Then the Governor added New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia as additional drop-off locations last year.
Last month, he added Denver as a destination.
The Texas Gov has even dropped dozens of migrants on Vice President Kamala Harris' front door in DC during the scheme.
And Florida adopted similar tactics - with DeSantis sending two planes filled with migrants to ritzy Martha's Vineyard island, off the coast of Massachusetts.
Abbott said that since launching the initiative to bus migrants away from his state, more than 21,600 people have been transported to the 'self-declared sanctuary cities.'
He said that the plans have given 'much-needed relief to Texas' overwhelmed border communities.'
This comes after Title 42 ended last month - causing an influx of people moving into the US via the border.
The Title 42 rules had been in place since March 2020.
The restrictions allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
U.S. authorities have unveiled strict new measures to replace Title 42, which crack down on illegal crossings while also setting up legal pathways for migrants who apply online, seek a sponsor and undergo background checks.
If successful, the reforms could fundamentally alter how migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Pandemic-era limits on asylum have been rarely discussed among many of tens of thousands of migrants massed on Mexico's border with the United States.
Their eyes were - and are - fixed instead on a new U.S. government mobile app that grants 1,000 people daily an appointment to cross the border and seek asylum while living in the U.S.
With demand far outstripping available slots, the app has been an exercise in frustration for many - and a test of the Biden administration's strategy of coupling new legal paths to entry with severe consequences for those who don't follow them.
