After the Texas governor sent migrants from the Lone Star state to Washington, D.C., in response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decision to end Title 42, Arizona has chosen to follow suit.
Arizona’s first bus arrived in D.C. on Wednesday after it left from Yuma on Monday.
Hear Stacey Barchenger discuss the program with host Lauren Gilger on The Show
Gov. Doug Ducey’s press aide C.J. Karamargin said the migrants on the bus came from as far as Uzbekistan, but none were from Mexico.
All on the bus volunteered. Arizona is paying for the bill, but it is being arranged by AMI Healthcare, a company that provides medical services to international aid organizations.
Karamargin says they will be met with non-government organizations to help get to their ultimate destinations.
He added there are future plans to send buses out of Yuma.
Karamargin said most of those destinations are in the northeast, though some on that first bus want to wind up as far away as Virginia and Florida.
There's a political element to the decision.
"This is a situation created by the federal government's inability or unwillingness to deal with what's going on at the border,'' said Karamargin, whose boss has made repeated attacks on the Biden administration, including its border policies.
Karamargin said there are plans for future buses, at least out of Yuma. He said there are no immediate plans to have similar trips originating from Cochise or Santa Cruz counties.
"Many of the asylum seekers are coming in through Yuma,'' he said.
It was Abbott who set the stage for the what Ducey is now doing.
"By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border,'' the Texas governor said in explaining the program. "Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden administration's failure to secure our border.''
Ducey's announcement of the busing of migrants came as he sent a letter to four social media companies asking them to do as better job of monitoring their platforms to ensure they are not being used to recruit people to help with smuggling.
"Cartels (are) preying on those seeking refuge for a better life, and facilitating the flow of drugs into American communities,'' the governor wrote. "These criminals are using your companies' social media platforms to make it happen.''
