TX Gov Spent $1B In COVID Funds On Migrants Stunt

The Texas Tribune reports:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and top state lawmakers shifted around roughly $1 billion in federal coronavirus aid to help pay for their campaign to arrest migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, exposing gaps in a law meant to bolster the country’s response to the ongoing pandemic. Critics say the money would have been put to better use tending to a public health crisis that has killed more than 86,000 people in the state.

Civil rights groups have widely derided the effort as discriminatory — and some have urged the Biden administration to intervene — calling it a harmful political stunt by a Republican governor who harbors aspirations for the presidency. The operation even has seen Texas send buses of arrested migrants to other cities, including Washington, as Abbott argues his state “should not have to bear the burden” at the border.

Read the full article.

Gov. Greg Abbott and top Texas lawmakers shifted around roughly $1 billion in federal coronavirus aid to help pay for the governor’s controversial border mission known as Operation Lone Star. Via @washingtonpost: https://t.co/3jKjlWLB3b

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) May 9, 2022