12th bus carrying migrants from Texas arrives in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Another bus carrying migrants from Texas arrived in Los Angeles Monday morning, the 12th such arrival since June 14, according to Mayor Karen Bass' office.
The group of 42 people arrived at Union Station around 7:15 a.m., according to the city.
City and county groups along with local nonprofit organizations were on standby to help the asylum seekers after they were given about a days' notice.
"We got maybe a little bit less than 24 hours' notice," said Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) Executive Director Angelica Salas.
After the previous bus arrived last week, Bass' office said the city had welcomed a total of 435 migrants from Texas since the first bus arrived.
They come from countries all over the world, including Venezuela, Honduras, China, Russia, and Haiti. Some stayed in California and others moved on to different regions.
"A vast majority of those individuals are children and family units," said Salas.
Protecting their privacy has also been a priority.
"They're seeing people from the health department to get health screenings; they're getting legal information for their immigration cases. They're receiving essentials, like clothing and diapers and baby wipes," said Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) Executive Director Martha Arévalo. "We see faces of relief of people finally being received warmly, where they feel safe."
When the first bus arrived, the L.A. Welcomes Collective said some asylum seekers reported not having food or drinks during the trip. The L.A. City Council recently voted to investigate if Texas violated any criminal laws at the time.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been orchestrating these trips under Operation Lone Star, saying Texas' border region is "overwhelmed" by immigrants crossing the Mexican border.
OLS is a joint operation between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department along the southern border between Texas and Mexico.
Abbott says the operation is intended to counter the influx of immigrants, illegal drug trade and human smuggling. On X (formerly Twitter), Abbott said the operation as of Aug. 26 has resulted in more than 420,800 apprehensions, 33,600 criminal arrests, 30,500 felony charges, 436 million fentanyl doses seized and 33,230 migrants bused to cities established as "Sanctuary Cities."
A representative of the L.A. Welcomes Collective said recent arrivals now report having meals and water during the bus rides from Texas to California.
They say sustaining this ongoing humanitarian response is possible, thanks to the many local nonprofits, agencies and public support.
"These are our brothers and sisters who are just arriving to this new place, new reality, new culture, and some of them they don't know when, where to go," said Father Fufa Wakuma, the Associate Pastor at St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church. "It's good to be there for them."
Abbott said "Texas secures the border in Pres. (Joe) Biden's absence."
"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 in Los Angeles in June.
"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," he added.
The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion on June 9 seeking to formally establish the city as a sanctuary city.
Last week, the council approved a motion calling for the City Attorney's Office to investigate whether crimes were committed on or before June 14, when Abbott sent 42 migrants to Los Angeles in the first of the shipments.
City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.
