Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing program costs Texas $12 million

Two buses transporting migrants from Texas arrive at Union Station on April 21. Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing program has cost the state $12 million, according to state officials. (Credit: Shuran Huang for The Texas Tribune)

Texas has spent more than $12 million sending busloads of migrants to East Coast cities, according to the Texas Division of Emergency Management. And on Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced that it had begun busing migrants to Chicago.

Documents from the emergency management department show that the state has already paid a total of $12,707,720.92 to Wynne Transportation to bus thousands of migrants from Texas border communities to Washington, D.C., and New York City, CNN first reported.