A bus carrying 31 immigrants sent from Texas pulled up outside 30th Street Station in the cool fog of Wednesday morning. The bus was sent by Gov. Greg Abbott in what he said was an effort to bring the challenges of the border to northern cities.
Immigration advocates in Philadelphia called the bus ride a cruel trick played on innocent people who are legally in the United States.
People began disembarking into the cold Philadelphia morning at about 6:15 a.m. The families were given winter coats, blankets, and hot chocolate by volunteers. City Councilmember Helen Gym greeted a woman who had a baby with a hug and words of welcome. There were at least two infants in the group that made the trip from Texas.
“Seeking asylum is a human right,” Gym said. “Our country has always welcomed people seeking refuge here, and we have flourished because of that. … Our city and country are strongest when we embrace and welcome people searching for a better life.”
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By 6:25 a.m., the bus had departed 30th Street, leaving 19 people to board a SEPTA bus to take them to a welcome center set up by the city in North Philadelphia. One of the children was being treated at a local hospital after arriving with a high fever.
Others on the bus were traveling on to other states. Some had called family members from the road, making arrangements to meet in Philadelphia.
Only one person will be staying in the city, according to state Rep. Amen Brown, who met with the families in North Philly.
“The mood is good,” he said of the arrivals. “They’re excited to see family members. Philly stepped up.”
Dobin Garmendia, 23, came to the United States from Nicaragua. He said people who he believed were Texas officials offered to bring him and others to Philadelphia for free if they had no money for the trip. He described the bus trip as generally smooth.
“I need to find work,” he said of his plans for the next few days, “and report to immigration.”
Blanca Pacheco, co-director of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, decried the uncertainty that Abbott inflicted on families by busing them to an unfamiliar city.
“People are asking questions, ‘Why is the press here? What is happening?'”
City officials and immigrant-assistance have been readying for days to meet the bus, carrying people originally from Central and South America.,
“Time and time again, immigrants are used as tokens to advance the political agendas of individuals who have no interest in our communities’ wellbeing,” said Juntos advocacy group executive director Erika Guadalupe Núñez. “Governor Abbott’s busing efforts serve as a ploy to wreak social discord and spread misinformation over the human right to seek asylum and what it means to be a Welcoming City. We will not be fooled by his efforts.”
Mayor Jim Kenney pledged the arrivals would be treated with dignity and respect, and shared a “How you can help” briefing, which can be read here. “It’s disgusting that Gov. Abbott’s administration continues to implement their purposefully cruel policy using immigrant families as political pawns,” the mayor said Tuesday.
Philadelphia officials said they would be ready with food, water, emergency health screenings and shelter. Abbott confirmed on Tuesday that along with Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C., “sanctuary city Philadelphia will now be a drop-off location for the state of Texas busing strategy.”
Texas has been sending migrants to northern cities in what it says is an effort to relieve pressure at the border, and others call a political stunt that harms and confuses innocent people.
This bus was coming from Del Rio, Texas, located on the border west of San Antonio. Philadelphia officials said Texas authorities have not coordinated with them.
Only three people had reported Pennsylvania as their final destination, and others are expected to continue on to stops in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Maryland, the city said.
Since summer, the city Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Office of Emergency Management have been preparing for the potential arrival of migrants on unscheduled, unanticipated bus routes from southern states. Those agencies have been meeting regularly to plan a response with 15 local community-based organizations, including New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, Juntos, HIAS Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, and Nationalities Service Center
That planning intensified in recent days. Officials noted that a major city such as Philadelphia can easily welcome a single bus of arrivals.
Most of the people arriving in Philadelphia are expected to be traveling on to meet family members. All have legal means to be in the United States. Many, if not all are seeking asylum, and have passed “credible fear” interviews in order to be released into the interior United States.
That standard requires that immigrants show they face a real danger of being harmed in their homeland, or that they’ve already been harmed. And they must have been harmed in a certain way, such as because of their race, religion or politics.
“The Lone Star State,” Abbott tweeted, “will continue doing more than any state in history to secure our border, including adding more sanctuary cities as drop-off locations for our busing strategy.”,
Abbott’s office said he was sending the bus here as “part of the governor’s unprecedented response to President Biden’s open border policies overwhelming border communities in Texas.”
“Until the Biden Administration does its job and provides Texans and the American people with sustainable border security, Texas will continue doing more than any other state in the nation’s history to defend against an invasion along the border, including adding more sanctuary cities like Philadelphia as drop-off locations,” Abbott said in a statement.
He cited Kenney’s advocacy for Philadelphia’s role as a sanctuary city for “making the city an ideal addition to Texas’ list.” The Kenney administration fought and won a major lawsuit over the Trump administration’s effort to withhold grant money unless the city helped enforce federal immigration laws.
Sanctuary jurisdictions such as Philadelphia aim to treat undocumented migrants the same as everyone else when they come in contact with the legal system. Those cities and states say it’s illegal for them to detain migrants for arrest by ICE agents, absent a judge’s order.
In the spring, Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to charter buses to transport migrants from Texas to Washington, D.C., and in August the governor added New York City and Chicago as destinations. Thousands of migrants have been sent to those cities, he said, “providing much-needed relief to Texas’ overwhelmed border communities.”
Immigration advocates call the buses a cruel trick, played on people who are pursuing legal immigration remedies and are simply trying to find their way to their families.
“Greg Abbott should be the loudest advocate for a humane immigration reform plan in Congress,” City Councilwoman Helen Gym tweeted over the weekend. “Instead he’s spending $$ on these buses as a sick political stunt because he’s more invested in exploiting a problem than figuring out a real solution.”
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“Greg Abbott should be the loudest advocate for a humane immigration reform plan in Congress,” City Councilwoman Helen Gym tweeted over the weekend. “Instead he’s spending $$ on these buses as a sick political stunt because he’s more invested in exploiting a problem than figuring out a real solution.”
There are solutions, we’re just unable to implement them though as you are continually stealing elections from the American people.
AND even if we DID implement them, WHAT WOULD IT DO, to the millions of illegal invaders, ALREADY HERE!
This actually doesn’t help Pennsylvania, sending busloads of prospective Dem voters to us. Do have to sympathize with Abbott however – Biden and his dunce DHS secretary are screwing these border states with open borders.
PA is a blue state because the majority keep voting democrat by am over and over. biden created this by his open border. Since his home state is there. I am sure he will help you just like he helps the border states.
The article in part says “…these people have legal means to be here”. So if Philly officials believe that, then why are they upset that they’re being sent there? And…… they need to be reminded that the illegals are entering the COUNTRY illegally…..Texas and Arizona just happen to be where the entry points are.
you want a better life? go back to your own country AND FIGHT FOR IT!!
PA is a blue state because the majority keep voting democrat by am over and over. biden created this by his open border. Since his home state is there. I am sure he will help you just like he helps the border states.
How do those people that meet and greet the buses figure that the illegals are here legally? When someone comes into a country without proper, and legal, paperwork, that kind of makes them here illegally. Maybe those left wing democrat states would understand the problem better if they were sent a few hundred thousand of the illegals every month since that’s pretty much how many have been entering this country since old senile Joe has been in office. The governors of those border states need to really fill up a bunch of buses and send the illegals north instead of sending so few on one bus. It would be more cost effective that way.
Add to that, how many illegal aliens, who UNLAWFULLY WORK, do so, while using STOLEN IDS, or using fake/forged IDs, KNOWING THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW YET AGAIN…
Nothing is more of a “cruel trick” than forcing hard working taxpayers to foot the bill for a rapidly growing group of freeloaders. What ever happened to keeping one’s word and keeping to one’s oath? I would call POTUS a quisling except for the fact the real presidents, Dr. Jill and idiot Klain, never took an oath.