Overwhelmed Border Patrol agents and facilities are sending out migrants crossing the southern border near McAllen, Texas, loading buses and planes to the point of capacity, according to a New York Post exclusive.
"We don't have enough private bus seats to get everyone out," City Manager Roy Rodriguez told the Post.
The four bus companies operating at Central Station bus terminal in McAllen have added as many as six daily routes out of the area, a total of 250 seats since the start of the Biden administration's border crisis, but they are still operating at capacity regularly, according to Rodriguez.
"All seats are already purchased for tomorrow," Rodriguez added to the Post. "So, if somebody wants to buy a bus fare to head north, they have to wait two days."
Rodriguez, citing McAllen Transit Director Mario Delgado data, said demand is at a "record" high, and "most, if not all" of the surge is from illegal immigrations flooding the Border Patrol and facilities, according to the report.
Not all the migrants caught and released by Biden administration officials are being sent out with the "manila envelope" with instructions on when and where they are supposed to appear in federal immigration court, the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged in late March.
"In some cases, families are placed in removal proceedings further along in the release process rather than while they are at the Border Patrol station," according to DHS.
And the packed buses are leaving many at Central Station waiting to leave, as Rodriguez reported a 50% surge in crowd.
"That's substantial because we're a pretty busy bus station to begin with," he told the Post.
One of the bus companies there, Greyhound Lines, the largest in the country, confirmed the "spike" in ticketing since March, with a spokesman telling the Post, "some of the increase can be attributed to migrant travel."
The Greyhound spokesman added the company is not getting federal aide to support its operations, but "would welcome assistance from the government as we continue to work diligently to provide travel support to migrant families.
"While it is not Greyhound's responsibility to specifically transport migrants, Greyhound strives to treat all passengers with dignity," he added..
Other carriers Trailways, Tornado Bus Co., and El Expreso Bus Co. did not respond to the Post's request for comment.
Rodriguez credited Catholic Charities for providing support to buy the tickets in McAllen
"Thank God for them because I don't know where we'd be without them," he told the Post.
"We're continuing to attempt to ensure that everyone is tested so that anyone is removed from the line, whether it be the bus or the airplane, and that's the best that they can do.
"These folks are not coming across to stay here and therefore we've got to provide them [a way] to where they're headed."
McAllen is in the Rio Grande Valley, where Republicans have focused their visits to view the border crisis first hand. Vice President Kamala Harris' one visit to Texas did not include this area.
Around 260,000 migrants have gone through McAllen since Feb. 1, according to federal data.
The migrants are caught and released by Border Patrol are tested for coronavirus at a government-run site across the street from the bus terminal, and then transferred to a nearby center run by Catholic Charities for an average stay of about 24 hours, the Post reported.
Rodriguez told the Post that center gets an average of 7,000 people per week, busing our half and the rest by airplane.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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