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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Union Station. | Photos courtesy of Gov Greg Abbott/YouTube; David Wilson/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
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About two weeks after a second bus of migrants from Texas arrived in the city, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ office confirmed a third bus dropped off more migrants Thursday at Union Station.
“One bus from Texas arrived around 12:40 p.m. today,” Zach Seidl, spokesman for Bass, said in a statement. “The city has continued to work with city departments, the county and a coalition of nonprofit organizations, in addition to our faith partners, to execute a plan set in place earlier this year.”
Seidl added, “As we have before, when we became aware of the bus yesterday, we activated our plan.”
According to a statement from LA Welcomes Collective, a network of immigrant rights, immigration legal services providers and faith organizations, 35 migrants were sent from Brownsville, Texas.
The collective works in close coordination with the city and county of Los Angeles to offer support services such as food, clothing and legal immigration consultation upon arrival. They also work to reunite families, if migrants have loved ones living in the region.
“Based on our experience serving vulnerable migrant populations, we expect the families arriving in Los Angeles to need legal services urgently. Asylum seekers and others fleeing harm and violent circumstances have rights under U.S. immigration law, but they have to present their cases in court. They deserve our compassion, respect and support. We expect the community to once again mobilize and rise to the challenge,” Kimberley Plotnik, program director for Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, which is a member of the collective, said in a statement.
Lindsay Toczylowski, Immigrant Defenders Law Center executive director, said in a statement that the center is “proud to offer legal support to people arriving in Los Angeles.
“We are grateful to the City of Brownsville for sending information in advance about this bus so we can better prepare to welcome them,” Toczylowski said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our community partners to receive migrants with dignity and ensure their legal needs are met.”
The first bus of migrants arrived on June 14, followed by a second bus on July 1, which carried 41 migrants and 42 migrants, respectively.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently proclaimed his state’s border region “overrun” and hinted that more shipments of immigrants could follow.
“Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” Abbott said in a statement after the first bus arrived. “Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status. Our border communities are on the front lines of President Biden’s border crisis, and Texas will continue providing this much-needed relief until he steps up to do his job and secure the border.”
In June, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a motion directing the city to draft a “Sanctuary City” ordinance that, when passed, would prohibit any city resources, property or personnel from being utilized for any federal immigration enforcement.
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