Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to investigate whether Texas Gov. Greg Abbott committed “human trafficking, kidnapping, or any other other crime” while busing asylum seekers from Texas to L.A.
The motion specifically refers to a bus of 42 migrants sent from McAllen, Texas on June 14 – the first of eleven such buses that have arrived in L.A. this summer.
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"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 at the time. “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.”
The L.A. Fire Department and representatives from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights responded to assist the immigrants, who were taken to St. Anthony's Croatian Catholic Church in Chinatown.
“[Abbott] sent vulnerable families on a 23-hour bus ride with little or no food or water,” said Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.
The motion instructs the L.A. City Attorney to investigate whether any criminal or civil legal action can be taken against Abbott.
Since June 14, ten more buses have been sent from Texas to L.A.. One left Texas on the evening of Aug. 21, while Southern California was in the grips of Tropical Storm Hilary.
“A couple of weeks ago, when we were all preparing for Hurricane Hilary, he sent – knowingly sent – a bus with small children right into the path of the hurricane,” Soto-Martinez said.
The latest bus arrived at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday morning, during the City Council meeting.
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