Texas reportedly paid a private company $75.5 million in the span of a year to transport migrants to sanctuary cities across the U.S.

Transaction data provided by the Texas Department of Emergency Management shows the state paid Wynne Transportation $75,561,032.72 from Aug. 19, 2022, through Aug. 23, 2023, to bus migrants out of state.

13 Investigates asked the department for more details on the spending, but our questions were referred to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.

Abbott’s office did not respond to ABC13’s questions by Tuesday afternoon.

Since April 2022, Texas has bussed nearly 52,000 migrants to Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, and Los Angeles, according to a news release from Abbott’s office.

  • Radium@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    Probably could have housed, fed, and employed those same migrants for that amount

    • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social
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      9 months ago

      That’s $14,519.23 per migrant; wouldn’t have lasted them long, but it could have taken care of them long enough for them to get their feet under them, surely.

      I don’t understand how it costs $14.5k per person to transport them… Sounds like someone’s pockets were getting lined.

      It’s $1,453.09, not 14.5k. Still more than it should cost to transport people but not as unreasonable as I previously claimed.

        • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Yea 1400 from Texas to Chicago is still pretty pricey but w/e. That money wouldn’t go far towards feeding/housing them but even if it covers a month that’s all most need to find work and pay for themselves after

        • FontMasterFlex@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          You’re both wrong. the article states the $75 million is from AUGUST 2022 to August 2023. The 52,000 number is from April 2022.

      • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        Why not be a monster AND make some sweet side cheddar. Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the amount stolen off the top.

  • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    $1500 for a bus ticket out of state seems pretty damn high (almost fraudulently high), but not as ridiculous as the headline makes it sound. What is ridiculous is trafficking 52,000 people who have no resources, no support, no contacts, no anything to someplace they didn’t choose to go to thousands of miles away.

    • timicin
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      9 months ago

      They agreed to being bussed (but they didn’t know exactly where) and Texas officials made sure to get that on paper to cya themselves against lawsuits and criminal charges

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    You gonna tell me Wynne Transportation isn’t a major donor or otherwise owned by a rabid republiQan?

    Last time we dug into Florida’s human trafficking we found all kinds of exciting illegal turds. SOP.

    • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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      9 months ago

      $1500 per bus ticket. You can buy first class airfare for that price. These Republicans sure do love spending other people’s money.

  • Bwaz@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Wondering whether we in the PNW could use our tax $$ to deport some of the MAGA aholes here down to Texas?

  • Nougat@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Headline is badly worded. The private company did not pay that amount; the private company was paid that amount by the State of Texas.

      • ClaraBecker@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        I was downvoted incredibly heavily for explaining this a while ago, but the answer is to promote misunderstandings. It’s a holdover from print newspapers where every word not printed amounted to extra ad space and article space, and therefore revenue and detail. However, being that that’s not an issue online, its only use is as a form of clickbait called a “crash blossom.”

  • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Aaaaaaaand how much does the state get in tax payer funds/year that is supposed to be used to help with these people and their plight in that state? I’m sure they get humanitarian aid.

  • ByteWizard@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Biden is building the wall they spent years claiming was all kinds of -ist.

    The 75 mil was worth every penny. Once the ‘migrants’ started showing up in Democrat cities suddenly there was ‘no more room’

    Funny how that works.

    • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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      9 months ago

      So you’re saying Republicans are so ineffective at their job that they couldn’t manage to build something as simple as a wall while being in power and it took a Democrat to get this Republican-lead task accomplished as well as having to rely on Democratic lead cities to house populations of people living within their state? Why is it people keep electing these slugs?