A bus carrying migrants drives along a portion of the border wall in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
EAGLE PASS/HOUSTON, the United States, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections.
BORDER TOWN SWAMPED
Eagle Pass, a border town in the U.S. state of Texas, has become one of the busiest crossing points along the Rio Grande river that separates the United States and Mexico during the fiscal year 2022, which ends on Sept. 30.
According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 2.1 million migrants crossed the border in the first 11 months of fiscal 2022, a record high in U.S. history.
Unlike in the past, the current influx was primarily driven by migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, data showed. U.S. relations with all three countries are deeply strained, contributing to economic misery there while making it difficult to send them home.
Luis, a 23-year-old Venezuelan migrant who did not give his full name, told Xinhua on Friday that it took him seven months to risk his life trekking the entire distance from his hometown to the U.S.-Mexico border.
"The crossing of the Darien Gap was especially dangerous. It took me six days to complete. I was so hungry the entire time. Along the way, I saw dead bodies. Some drowned, others collapsed," Luis said outside a migrant resource center in San Antonio, which is about two and a half hours away by car from Eagle Pass.
The Darien Gap is the only overland route connecting Central and South America, stretching over sixty miles through forest and swamp. It is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world.
However, this does not mean that migrants are safe once they cross the border into the United States. Late last month, a detention center warden and his twin brother opened fire on a group of migrants who had stopped for water along a farm road near the United States-Mexico border in Texas, killing one and injuring another.
More than 800 migrants died at the border in fiscal year 2022, hitting a record high, NPR reported recently, citing internal government figures shared by a senior Border Patrol official. Many of them died as a result of the extreme heat or drowning. In an interview with CNN, Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber said he finds bodies of migrants almost every day.
THRUST INTO SPOTLIGHT
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose reelection campaign in 2022 is focused on border security, launched the "busing strategy" in April to protest U.S. President Joe Biden's border policies.
Abbott has accused the Biden administration of "ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years." Arizona, another border state dominated by Republicans, later joined Texas in migrant busing.
Republicans are "playing politics with human beings, using them as props," Biden said, slamming Abbott and other Republican governors over the relocation of migrants last month.
Thousands of migrants have been bused from the southern U.S. border to New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago since April, leaving these Democratic cities scrambling to find adequate shelters for them.
Another Republican, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, chartered two flights to send migrants recruited in San Antonio, Texas, to Martha's Vineyard, a Democrat-dominated rich island in Massachusetts, last month.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday in response to the unprecedented influx of asylum seekers, following in the footsteps of Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who declared a public emergency and requested the National Guard to assist with the arrival of migrants this summer.
"This is unsustainable. The city is going to run out of funding for other priorities," Adams said, blaming political motivation and lack of coordination for the man-made humanitarian crisis.
"What's happening is very disturbing to a lot of people," Juanita Martinez, Democratic Party Chairwoman of Maverick County, Texas, told Xinhua in Eagle Pass on Monday.
"It has wasted money for a political stunt for Abbott. He is using these poor people as a political stunt," Martinez said, referring to the migrant busing. "We need a change here in Texas. We need to turn Texas blue."
Republicans and Democrats are attempting to highlight their differences on a variety of issues ahead of the November elections, with immigration being a key focus, according to a Pew Research survey released on Thursday, with Democrats' messaging this election cycle resonating more with Latino voters.
As the partisan feud intensifies, immigration will be a key driver in the midterm elections, according to a Wall Street Journal poll released last month, which warned that if Republicans do not show some leadership on the issue, they will allow "a big opportunity to slip away." ■
A bus carrying migrants is seen along a portion of the border wall in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
Migrants seeking asylum line up to board a bus at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
A bus carrying migrants departs from a U.S. Border Patrol processing facility in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
Migrants seeking asylum wait to board a bus at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
A Texas National Guardsman escorts a group of migrants toward a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
A man opens a gate for a bus to exit a U.S. Border Patrol processing station in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
A migrant seeking asylum boards a bus at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
Migrants seeking asylum line up at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)