First Bus Of Migrants From Texas Border Reaches DC, Abbott Says

TEXAS — The first bus ordered to take migrants from the Texas-Mexico border to Washington, DC under a new policy announced by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week has arrived at the nation's capital, Abbott announced Wednesday.

The bus, carrying migrants from Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, let passengers off between Union Station and the U.S. Capitol, according to Abbott.

Migrants were dropped off in a white charter bus in front of a building containing offices for Fox News, NBC News and C-Span at 9 a.m., according to the Washington Post. A second bus is en route, Abbott said.

Abbott took a jab at President Joe Biden on social media shortly after reports surfaced of the bus reaching DC.

"Biden refuses to come see the mess he’s made at the border," Abbott said. "So Texas is bringing the border to him."

Abbott announced several measures last week intended to curb what Abbott described as "catastrophes caused by Biden's open-border policies."

The new policies are being implemented in anticipation of the end of Title 42, a Trump administration policy enacted in March 2020 that allows border agents to turn back migrants and asylum seekers at the border to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Biden announced the policy would end May 23.

Abbott said last week that busing migrants who have been processed and released from federal custody will allow the federal government to "more immediately address the needs of the people they are allowing to come across our border."

"As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the State of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe," Abbott said in a news release Wednesday.

In addition to the busing policy, Abbott announced an increase in safety inspections of commercial vehicles coming into Texas intended to target human trafficking and drug smuggling into the state. Abbott warned at the time that congestion at the border would increase dramatically with the additional inspections.

Backups of longer than 12 hours are being reported at ports of entry along the Texas-Mexico border, and the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge is effectively closed as Mexican truckers protest Abbott's policy.

The bridge is one of the busiest border crossings in the country with an estimated 175,000 vehicles crossing each month. Since it opened in 1994, it's the seventh-busiest port in the U.S. and the fourth-busiest along the southern border with Mexico.

The bridge is the largest land source of produce into the U.S., and officials are predicting supply chain issues and price increases.

This story is being updated. The Associated Press contributed to this report.