Texas has spent $12.7 million, or $1,400 per passenger, busing migrants to New York and D.C.


Texas has spent nearly $13 million transporting migrants to New York City and Washington, D.C., according to the Texas Division of Emergency Management. As of Aug. 9, Texas paid charter company Wynne Transportation $12.7 million to bus thousands of migrants to the East Coast, CNN reported Wednesday, citing a spreadsheet obtained through an open records request. The Division of Emergency Management confirmed those numbers to several news organizations.
Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) office said more than 7,400 willing migrants have been bused to D.C. and more than 1,500 to New York since April, meaning his administration is spending about $1,400 per migrant to transport. "Comparatively, a one-way, same-day ticket on a Greyhound bus from El Paso costs $291 to New York City and $324 to Washington, D.C.," the El Paso Times reports. "Same-day flights to either destination are under $400." Abbott has requested private donations to offset the cost to taxpayers, but had received just $167,828 as of Aug. 17, CNN reports.
Abbott rolled out the busing program as part of his multibillion-dollar Operation Lone Star border initiative. He said Wednesday that Chicago has been added to the list of destination cities.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Critics of the program call it an election-year political stunt, and New York and D.C. leaders have indicated their displeasure, but Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) said it's actually a pretty good deal for the migrants themselves. "It is usually the responsibility of released migrants to cover the cost of their travel throughout the U.S. as their asylum cases are pending in court," CNN notes.
Abbot's goal is "to demonize migrants and incite fear among Americans," but his "busing strategy has brought them closer to their destinations and saved them travel costs," Escobar told the El Paso Times. "In reality, providing transportation to migrants when coordinated with NGOs to cities with capacity to help is a glimpse into what humanitarian support systems could look like in America if we prioritized assistance and community-based services to those arriving at our nation's front door."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 8, 2025
Cartoons Thursday's cartoons - divine retribution, ChatGPT in Congress, and more
-
Titus Andronicus: a 'beautiful, blood-soaked nightmare'
The Week Recommends Max Webster's staging of Shakespeare's tragedy 'glitters with poetic richness'
-
The Alienation Effect: a 'compelling' study of the émigrés who reshaped postwar Britain
The Week Recommends Owen Hatherley's 'monumental' study is brimming with 'extraordinary revelations'
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
How does the Alien Enemies Act work?
Feature President Trump is using a long-dormant law to deport Venezuelans. How does it work?
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Deportations ensnare migrant families, U.S. citizens
Feature Trump's deportation crackdown is sweeping up more than just immigrants as ICE targets citizens, judges and nursing mothers
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations