PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Three buses with migrants aboard arrived in Philadelphia Wednesday morning from Texas. Their arrival comes as the effort to lift the pandemic-era restrictions on asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border is on hold.
The first bus pulled up to 30th Street Station shortly before 6 a.m., and the second about 45 minutes later. The final bus arrived at 8:40 a.m.
The city took in 125 people overall, with migrants from Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela, officials said.
Philadelphia emergency management workers and partner organizations handed out blankets and jackets to the people as they got off the charter bus. 77 of them took SEPTA buses to a welcome facility in North Philly.
Others were picked up by family members. Cesar Garcia picked up his mother-in-law Amalia. She cried as she embraced her family.
“She went through hell to get here,” said Garcia. “That’s all I can say.”
Amalia told her family and some of the volunteers outside 30th Street Station that she hadn’t eaten for two days. The way this is being handled isn’t how one treats human beings, she said.
Texas has been sending buses of migrants to Philadelphia for more than a month. The city maintains that Texas government officials have not been willing to coordinate. Instead, southern organizations have been sharing information with organizations in Philadelphia.
Pandemic-era limits on border crossings had been slated to expire Wednesday — and the federal government opposed an effort by some conservative-leaning states to keep them in place. But hours before they were about to lift, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court not to remove them before Christmas.
Related
The Associated Press contributed to this report.