(NewsNation) — Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey first started busing migrants earlier this year to Washington, D.C., and New York, expanding their efforts to Chicago this summer.
It came to a head this week when a group was dropped off at the vice president’s residence and Martha’s Vineyard.
While governors started busing migrants this spring, transporting them is not a new circumstance. The federal government has processes set up to transport migrants, specifically those seeking asylum as well as unaccompanied children.
The government routinely charters migrants, some to detention facilities if they have a criminal record, others to shelters, including unaccompanied children.
In May, NewsNation reported on the government’s plan to fly migrants from El Paso, Texas, to cities across the country, and found planes headed for Alexandria, Louisiana, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
“This is not new. This is a part of everyday procedures. There is nothing mysterious or nefarious. In order for children to move from border towns to shelter care facilities, they are going to have to travel. They are going to have to fly or go on buses,” Essey Workie with the Human Services Initiative told NewsNation in May.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement provides assistance to asylum seekers who qualify, working also with the State Department to “ensure refugees are placed in locations where there are appropriate services and resettlement conditions,” according to the website.