Now he has their attention. For much of the past two years, Democrats and the mainstream media tried to downplay and ignore the growing crisis at the southern border, while Texas leaders and border communities begged for help and relief. Now, thanks to Governor Greg Abbott's move to bus migrants from the Texas border to cities like New York, D.C. and Chicago, immigration is again one of the hottest political issues in the country. The White House is being forced to answer questions about it at every press briefing, while other states like Arizona and Florida are following suit, sending migrants from their states to Democrat-led cities. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis even sent two planes of migrants to Martha's Vineyard.
All of this has caused a meltdown on the left, with phrases like "reckless," "inhumane," and "reprehensible" thrown around by Democrat leaders in recent days. California Governor Gavin Newsom is even calling for possible kidnapping charges against Abbott and other GOP governors. Undaunted, Abbott has vowed the transports will continue, even sending two buses to the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris this week.
While this all makes for great political theater, the question remains whether it is actually good border policy. Vlad Davidiuk, Texas-based Republican strategist, believes this could be what ultimately leads to some meaningful change in border policy. "I think what's really going to finally force some action is some of these blue cities now having to deal with this huge influx of migrants, which they have no ability to take care of," he tells KTRH. Indeed, even the Democrat mayor of El Paso is now chartering buses to take migrants out of his overrun city.
Nevertheless, Davidiuk doesn't expect any real change in policy until after the midterm elections. "I think if Congress flips to Republican control, then Republicans in Congress will be able to force President Biden and his administration to finally take steps to get the border under control," he says.
In the meantime, Abbott insists these migrant transports will go on until the president gets the message. "We do have a plan to stop this process, and that plan begins with the Biden administration finally securing the border," he tells FOX News. "All Biden has to do is replicate what (former President) Trump did, which would lead to a reduction in border crossings, and that would lead to the elimination of us busing people across the country."
That leads us to the poll question today.