A fifth bus of asylum seekers from Texas arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday as part of Governor Greg Abbott’s plans to transport migrants away from his state.
On Saturday, the office of the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, announced that the bus – the fifth to arrive in the city since 14 June – arrived at about 11.30am at Union Station.
“The city has continued to work with city departments, the county, and a coalition of non-profit organizations, in addition to our faith partners, to execute a plan set in place earlier this year,” Bass’s office said in a statement.
“As we have before, when we became aware of the bus [Friday,] we activated our plan,” it added.
According to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (Chirla), the bus was carrying 44 people, among them 14 children between two and 14 years old. They hailed from Colombia, China, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
The people were taken to Cathedral high school in Chinatown where they were examined for medical issues and provided with food. According to Chirla, most of them have been united with their families and many have already established asylum cases, ABC7 reports.
In a statement condemning Abbott, who previously said his state was being “overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas,” Chirla’s executive director, Angélica Salas, said:
“Actions ordered by Texas governor Abbott against migrants and refugees are outrageous, if not criminal … We condemn the dehumanization of migrants and refugees anywhere and we remind Governor Abbott that every life is precious and protected under the United Nations Human Rights Charter.”
ABC7 reports Salas further saying, “Operation Lone Star is a questionable initiative fueled by xenophobia and void of human decency. But the line has been crossed long ago by this governor with the most recent example being the busing of thousands of asylum seekers to various other states, including Los Angeles, California.”
Since 14 June, a total of five buses carrying migrants have arrived in Los Angeles, with the fourth bus carrying 41 people arriving in the city earlier this week on Tuesday, Chirla said. Advocates and council members have condemned Abbott’s decision as a “despicable stunt” and accused him of “using human beings as pawns”.
Operation Lone Star is Abbott’s state border security program, which launched in 2021 and has since stirred controversy over its treatment of asylum seekers, conditions for border troops and Texas’s legal authority.
Last April, Abbott ordered the Texas division of emergency management to transport busloads of asylum seekers to Washington DC. He has since added New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as drop-off locations.
On 14 June, Abbott announced the first busload to arrive in Los Angeles, saying: “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.”
Earlier this month on 10 July, Abbott tweeted the total numbers of people that have since been transported to other cities, including over 10,300 to Washington DC, over 9,500 to New York, over 3,600 to Philadelphia, over 250 to Denver and over 80 to Los Angeles.
“As more and more buses arrive in CA and other states, we call on the Biden administration to intervene and protect these asylum seekers, support and fund non-profit organizations providing assistance, and condemn those who put politics ahead of freedom, democracy and life,” Chirla said.
