Texas Has Spent an Eye-Popping $124 MILLION to Bus Migrants to Democratic-Run Cities

Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s migrant busing program has cost the state’s taxpayers $124 million since 2022, according to a Nexstar report.

Published on KXAN-Austin, the report cites public records obtained by Nexstar showing that the state has so far shelled out $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants to cities such as Chicago, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. In total, 2,245 buses have been used with each bus carrying an average of 45 passengers.

Nextstar noted that the bulk of the money went to Wynne Transportation LLC.

The report noted:

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.

Abbott created a donation portal for the program when it first launched to help supplement state dollars. As of early December 2023, the state has raised $460,196 to help pay for the buses, according to the governor’s office.

Migrants are being bused on a voluntary basis and do not pay the state to be transported. The documents did not detail price per passenger, since migrants are not paying for their ticket.

Abbott began busing migrants out of state in April 2022 and has criticized President Joe Biden’s border and immigration policies.

“We have a president of the United States that is not securing the border,” Abbott said at the time. “And he’s violating laws passed by Congress to secure the border. Then on top of that, we have a president who is turning a blind eye to a security-based issue by allowing people on the terrorist watch lists to come into the United States of America.”

The governor is currently in a standoff with the federal government, as Texas officials have been preventing federal agents from removing razor wire in the border city of Eagle Pass.