(The Center Square) – State and local governments far from the border face significant financial challenges when helping migrants, a new report warns.
“State and local governments are shouldering the rapidly growing costs of assisting migrants and asylum seekers as their numbers increase in the U.S,” according to a new report from S&P Global Ratings. “If this issue remains significant enough for long enough, the increase in costs and social service requirements could affect states’ and local governments’ credit quality.”
As migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border in record numbers, some stay in Texas or other border states. However, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s and others’ busing programs have taken many to New York, Denver and Chicago. Those big cities – and their corresponding states – have struggled to find money for new arrivals. The mounting financial pressures have created new challenges in all three cities.
In December 2023, the immigration court backlog reached 3 million pending cases. That’s an increase of 1 million from 2022, with almost 2 million new proceedings filed in 2023. Texas started transporting new arrivals out of the state in 2022. Of the 100,000 migrants and asylum seekers Texas has transported, 83,600 were sent to three cities: New York, Chicago, and Denver.