Arizona Gov Nominee Paints Abbott
Busing Plan as Migrant Exportation

Capitol Inside
August 7, 2022

The Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arizona fired a broadside at Governor Greg Abbott from the right this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas where she portrayed a Texas migrant busing scheme a publicity gimmick that would be a pipeline for problems around the nation.

“I’m not a fan of busing people here illegally into other cities," Kari Lake said during an appearance at CPAC on Friday. "It makes for a cute photo-op, but it just takes people who shouldn’t be here and moves them further in. I think we should bring the buses and drive them to the border and then send them back the other way.”

Lake - a longtime television Phoenix news anchor who's close to Donald Trump - has vowed to declare an invasion from Mexico in her state on the day that she takes the oath if she's elected in a November battle with Katie Hobbs - a Democrat who was elected secretary of state in Arizona in 2018. Hobbs has led by a half-dozen points or more in limited polling on the fight with Lake to replace term-limited Republican Governor Doug Ducey in the November general election.

Lake knocked the steam out of a verbal feud that Abbott initiated with New York City Mayor Eric Adams over the transporting of migrants to Times Square with the busing plan that the Arizona candidate mocked at CPAC with the warning on Abbott exporting migrants to other states under the guise of a campaign media ploy.

The chorus of calls for an invasion declaration in Texas includes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the heir apparent to Trump based on a straw poll that found him favored by 61 percent support of the participants if the former president doesn't run again in 2024. DeSantis' closest pursuers - former Trump advisor Mike Pompeo and Donald Trump Jr. - were tied for second at 6 percent apiece in the CPAC survey. The ex-president led DeSantis 59 percent to 28 percent in a hypothetical primary pairing.

Abbott has resisted mounting pressure for a declaration of invasion that would ostensibly give the state the ability to round up migrants and force them back into Mexico. There's no guarantee that such a decree survive a test in the courts as a move that has no precedent. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has argued that Texas is being invaded and should have the authority to physically restraint people in the state illegally.

Lake's alarming assessment of Abbott's busing program came at the same time the governor sought to score points at CPAC by playing up Operation Lone Star and the feud that he's sparked with Adams on the busing of migrants to NYC in recent days. Lake knocked the air of whatever momentum that Abbott might have perceived from the long-distance dueling with the New York mayor.

more to come ...