13 Investigates: Cost of transferring migrants out of Texas tops $124M

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Texas has bused and flown more than 100,000 migrants out of state as part of Gov. Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star border initiative.

Now, 13 Investigates knows down to the penny just how much it is costing Texas taxpayers to move each migrant out-of-state with a one-way ticket to a Democratically-led town.

Since Abbott's busing program began in April 2022, Texas has bused and flown more than 103,100 migrants to six cities in an effort "to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden Administration's refusal to secure the border," according to Abbott.

More than 37,900 migrants have been sent to New York, another 31,500 have been sent to Chicago, 16,300 to Denver, 12,500 to Washington, D.C., 3,400 to Philadelphia and 1,500 to Los Angeles, according to Abbott.

Texas has been invoiced $124,603,616.19 to bus migrants from April 2022 through January 10, 2024, according to the Texas Department of Emergency Management.

We asked for the number of migrants who have taken what's a free ride for them during that same timeframe and the average one-way ticket funded by taxpayers comes out to $1,243.18 per migrant.

"Many Texans will look at that and say, 'yes, that is a high cost,' but then they'll also say there would be a cost if those individuals stayed here in Texas," said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.

Our investigation found Wynne Transportation, one of the main bus companies being used by the state, is billing Texas up to $3,000 a day, or $21,000 a week, for individual security guards to be on those buses, according to invoices 13 Investigates obtained from TDEM.

"The governor knows that opponents want to attack him for being inhumane and being irresponsible in terms of the transportation of these migrants, so he's doing everything possible to ensure that their voyage from Texas to the north is as safe, secure and comfortable as possible," Jones said. "He's making sure that when someone takes a bus that's being sponsored by the state of Texas, that their trip is much better or at least as good as it would be if you were using a high-end charter company and that does increase the cost."

Abbott's initiative is also costing the Democratically-led cities where migrants are being sent.

In New York, WABC-TV reporter Dan Krauth tells us, "the city has received close to double the amount of migrants at shelters ... than originally expected and it's draining the city's resources."

And in Chicago, WLS-TV Reporter Liz Nagy said city shelters are full.

"The city's answer is to allow migrants to live on these city buses to stay out of these subzero temperatures," Nagy said.

Last year, Chicago's city council passed an ordinance that would tow and impound buses that are not properly permitted and do not drop off migrants in designated landing zones.

Now, some companies are being sued by New York City and cited by the City of Chicago, including Wynne Transportation and four Houston-based bus companies.

13 Investigates' Kevin Ozebek visited offices for all four of the Houston-based companies to speak with them about the lawsuit, but we were not granted any interviews.

The attorney for the bus companies told 13 Investigates the state is not covering their legal fees for the lawsuit.

"It's disheartening the governor of Texas is literally invoking chaos," Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in December.

Abbott responded saying, "Now the rest of America is understanding exactly what is going on."

We asked TDEM, the agency tasked with running Abbott's busing and flight operation, for an interview but they declined.

In a statement, TDEM told us, "There are at least two security guards on every bus. Each bus is equipped with air conditioning and a restroom. The commercial charter buses are stocked with water and food (humanitarian rations such as those provided by FEMA for use during disaster, or self-heating, read-to-eat emergency meals) ahead of each trip. Additionally, nearly 900 migrants have been transported via plane to sanctuary cities. Similar to commercial plane travel, passengers are provided a light snack and water onboard. Passengers undergo temperature checks prior to travel and undergo a security screening prior to boarding the flights. Bus rates and final amounts invoiced vary based on in-state travel distance, distance to drop-off destination, and return mileage from the drop-off destination back to the border."

TDEM said that the invoiced totals aren't necessarily the amount the state pays, as it has the option to dispute charges and has in the past "to ensure all amounts paid are for actual services rendered."

The governor's migrant bussing program has put so much political pressure on the White House to do more along the border, that Texas started flying migrants out late last year as well.

We know of four flights that cost the state $845,458 to transport 884 migrants to Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Rockport, Illinois, for an average cost of $956.40 for each migrant's one-way ticket.

13 Investigates wanted to know just how much it would cost taxpayers if the migrants stayed in Texas, so we asked the Gov. Abbott's office as well as the Texas Department of Emergency Management and the Texas Attorney General's Office, but we never received an answer.

Two years ago, before the record surge along the border Texas saw this past winter, the Texas Attorney General's Office released data that showed Texans pay up to $717 million a year for hospitals to treat migrants, and more than $150 million a year to incarcerate migrants who end up behind bars.

For updates on this story, follow Kevin Ozebek on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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