El Paso, Texas, the current epicenter of the nation’s border crisis, is bussing migrants to Houston, Dallas, Austin and Denver — but New York City and Chicago is where the migrants really want to land, according to one organization.
El Paso County told The Post it’s close to finalizing agreements with non-profits in Dallas, Austin and Denver to transport migrants out of the overwhelmed border city.
Texas’ sixth largest city is already seeing a surge in migrants weeks before Title 42 ends May 11.
The pandemic-era policy has allowed the US Border Patrol to kick out many South and Central Americans seeking refuge in the US and return them to Mexico immediately.
As many as 40,000 migrants are waiting in Mexico for the US policy to expire so they can pour over the border and seek asylum.
The local government has been working with Catholic Charities in Houston since October.
The charity uses FEMA funds to bus migrants from West Texas and drive them 12 hours to the opposite side of the state.
From there, most migrants are itching to get to their final destinations — most often, New York City or Chicago.
Karina Hernandez of Catholic Charities in Houston said those big cities are their top two destinations, outside of migrants who decide to stay in Houston.
“They have family there, they know people there,” Hernandez added.
“Ninety-nine percent of migrants who get connected from us to El Paso buy their own bus tickets or their plane ticket out of Houston.”
Those who don’t have the funds get transportation paid by the religious group — which uses FEMA money to buy migrants air or bus fare.
Catholic Charities also uses public funds to pay for hotel rooms for migrants who might have a flight the next day and need a place to sleep.
The revelation comes after New York City Mayor Eric Adams whined on Thursday that FEMA should not let other cities bus migrants to the Big Apple, where 1,300 migrants have arrived in the last week alone.
By comparison, more than 1,600 border jumpers arrived in El Paso in one 24-hour period, city statistics showed Friday.
Migrants are flying into Gotham’s airports every day, as well.
“Direct flights are really affordable so we have several options with our airport beside flying out of El Paso,” Hernandez shared.
Transferring migrants to Houston and additional cities helps relieve the pressure from El Paso, the top hot spot in the nation for migrant encounters.
Shelters in the border community are already over capacity with asylum-seekers — and hundreds of people are sleeping in tents outside the Opportunity Center.
It also avoids a bottleneck at the airport and bus depots in El Paso.
Local leaders have previously told The Post airlines don’t add more flights out of El Paso just because there’s a migrant crisis.
In December, the city set up cots for migrants to sleep at the airport while they waited overnight for their departures.
Currently, Catholic Charities is ramping up its bussing in El Paso — from one charter every once in a while to one a week.
At its peak in December, the organization was bussing five busloads from ground zero to Houston.
“They’re going to need a lot of help, that’s for sure,” Hernandez said.
Read the full article here
Discussion about this post