Mexico’s president condemns Greg Abbott’s ‘offensive’ migrant busing

Mexico’s president has condemned Republican governors in the US who have relied on the issue of immigration for “political, electoral purposes” and bused hundreds of migrants to Democrat-led cities for political stunts.

In a briefing on 12 October, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Mexico’s government is “keeping an eye” on the issue to ensure that “no tragedy happens” as thousands of people seeking asylum in the US flee South and Central America before crossing through Mexico to the US border.

“Ahead of the elections in the United States there’s … temptation to use the issue of immigration under political, electoral pretenses,” he said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is “transporting immigrants to New York” and “near the houses where Democratic politicians live,” an “indignant” and “offensive” scheme to advance his political agenda, according to Mr Lopez Obrador.

“We don’t want to be involved in these issues,” he said. “We don’t want the issue of immigration, and the topic of Mexico, to be in the US debate agenda.”

Mr Lopez Obrador has previously rebuked Governor Abbott’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and maneuvers – including plans to use the Texas National Guard and other agencies to send migrants to ports of entry – as “immoral”.

His latest remarks come as New York City officials prepare to open a temporary shelter facility to house up to 500 migrants, as the city’s already-strained shelter system works to house thousands of asylum seekers who have arrived in the city this year, including people sent north by Governor Abbott.

More than 17,000 people seeking asylum have been bused to the city since the spring, according to Mayor Eric Adams. The city anticipates the city’s shelter census to surpass 100,000 within the coming year, if the pace of arrivals continues.

The city’s Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers will allow people to spend up to 96 hours at the sites, which will connect people to food, legal aid, medical care and other shelter assistance.

Mayor Adams declared a state of emergency on 7 October and issued an executive order directing all city agencies to help support the centres. He also has urged state and federal agencies to provide immediate additional support.

“If our city had had coordination or even just cooperation from any of the states sending buses, or more support from our partners, then maybe we could have budgeted, staffed, and allocated resources for these asylum seekers,” he said in an announcement on Friday.

“But we didn’t get the support and information we asked for, and now, New York City is being forced to bear far more than its share of this national crisis caused by political motivation,” he added. “We are at the edge of the precipice.”

Governor Abbott’s administration also has arranged buses with hundreds of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence in Washington DC, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is facing a lawsuit and potential criminal probes for chartering flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard.