The practice of Texas governor Greg Abbott (R) busing migrants to more liberal locales has generated controversy. Illinois governor JB Pritzker (D) has suspected that Abbott is playing politics, noting that the migrants are not forced into states like Oklahoma, Idaho, or Mississippi; Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser (D) also notes the “political points” Abbott is trying to score. Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) is not only encountering the migrants without warning, but she is also appalled that the migrants were travelling from Texas without needed medical treatment. Even city officials in Chattanooga, Tennessee were taken aback.
But despite all of this, and the fact that the trips have a receipt of at least $12 million, a recent poll conducted by the University of Texas at Austin shows that 52 per cent of Texas voters support Abbott’s action on busing migrants, with 35 per cent in opposition. That high amount of support is fuelled by the fact that 80 per cent of Republicans support it, with 62 per cent indicating strong support; only 13 per cent of the Texas GOP are opposed to the action. Independents support busing migrants out of Texas by a 24-point margin (50-26 in support).
Before the November election, it’s clear that Greg Abbott is trying to fuel his base. As of this writing, FiveThirtyEight indicates that Abbott is leading his Democratic opponent Beto O’Rourke in the polls by 7.5 points; that figure is close to RealClearPolitics’s estimate, which is 7.3 points. The issues of immigration and border security have long resonated with many Texas voters, particularly Republicans, and Abbott has capitalised on it in order to mask his hardline stances on abortion and gun control, both of which are among the issues being voted on during the midterms.
The bottom line: The policy is "undeniably popular" with the Republican base, even as it attracts widespread criticism, James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at UT Austin and a co-director of the poll, told Axios.
- "The antagonistic nature of the policy plays well with the large swath of GOP voters who see border security and reducing immigration to Texas as major election issues," Henson added.
Although many would deem the action of migrant busing as another form of human trafficking, some, oddly or otherwise, consider migrants going to asylum-friendly cities to be a miracle. Immigrant courts in Houston are notorious for rejecting at least 90 per cent of asylum claims from migrants.
We could all imagine the visions of America according to Republicans…