Buses full of migrant families from Laredo and Del Rio are being driven to Dallas, where confused passengers are dropped off in an effort to alleviate overcrowding in border cities. And the unannounced trips from Laredo are sending city officials and Spanish-speaking police officers scrambling to provide them shelter.
At least three buses have arrived in the last two weeks, illustrating how an unusual spike in border migration in the heat of the summer has created a ripple effect in North Texas. A fourth bus from Del Rio arrived Wednesday evening with migrant families from Haiti and Cuba.
The buses from Laredo were chartered by the city of Laredo, where Mayor Pete Saenz has said his border city is overwhelmed with migrants transferred there by the U.S. Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley as the coronavirus pandemic hammers local hospitals. Laredo spokeswoman Noraida Negron confirmed that Laredo chartered buses to send migrants to Dallas, Austin and Houston, sending about 800 migrants north.
