Texas has started collecting donations from the public to fund the transport costs of migrants being sent to New York City and Washington, D.C.

Fox News reported that the Office of the Governor has released a statement on its website urging the public to donate online by credit card or mail by sending a check to the address provided.

The statement noted that it was after U.S. President Joe Biden decided to end Title 42 expulsions, prompting Gov. Greg Abbott to order the Texas Division of Emergency Management to charter buses to send migrants to Washington, D.C.

Abbott's office has collected $118,297 as of July 22, with the state of Texas being billed nearly $7 million from busing and security contractors as of mid-July.

Abbott's office added that the unused donations will be used for the construction of the Texas border wall. For that initiative, Texas has collected $55,334,747 as of July 22.

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Texas' Transport Migrants Program

On August 5, Abbott announced the arrival of the first group of migrants brought to New York City from Texas.

The migrants were dropped off on a green bus at Port Authority Bus Terminal at Gate 14, according to the Office of the Texas Governor press release.

New York City had recently become a drop-off location for the busing strategy as part of Abbott's response to the Biden administration's open border policies.

Abbott added that Washington, D.C. and New York City are the ideal destinations for migrants as they can receive an abundance of city services, specifically citing NYC Mayor Eric Adam's housing program.

Abbott first directed the state's Division of Emergency Management in April.

Illegal immigration at the southern border started its historic highs last March, with law enforcement officials encountering fewer than 75,000 migrants in 2020. It then rose to 150,000, eventually 200,000 each month over the past year, according to a Washington Examiner report.

Washington, D.C. and New York City

Adams and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized Abbott for sending hundreds of migrants from his state's border to their cities.

Adams called Abbott's transport of migrants "inhumane," while Bowser described the wave of migrants arriving in Washington, D.C . as a "humanitarian crisis."

However, McAllen, Texas Mayor Javier Villalobos told Fox news that the two northern cities can handle "a few hundred" compared to McAllen, which is dealing with thousands of migrants a day.

Over 130,000 new arrivals were recorded in 2021 between February and November.

Villalobos added that McAllen encounters 100 border crossings a day.

New York City has opened 11 additional shelters to house migrants as more buses are likely to come to the city.

Critics noted Abbott's move as a "political stunt," with migrants' families being caught amid the political battle between the southern border and northern cities, as reported by CBS News.

The Department of Homeland Security has already processed and released more than 6,600 asylum seekers.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Texas Gov. Abbott Sends Buses Full Of Migrants To Washington and New York - from NBC News