The bus arrived at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, picking up exhausted parents after spending more than 20 hours on the road soothing babies and toddlers.

Her husband was separated from her family at the border and is taking a woman who is battling deportation in Texas. She carried 42 immigrants from Guatemala, Venezuela, Haiti and at least one from China.

The group, which arrived Wednesday afternoon, is among more than 21,600 immigrants moved across the country from Texas under a hasty plan last year by Lone Star Gov. Greg Abbott.

Buses run from Washington DC to New York City. to Chicago. to Philadelphia. Recently in Denver.

But on Wednesday, after announcing the arrival of the first group of immigrants bound for Los Angeles by bus from Texas, Abbott said border towns “at the forefront of President Biden’s border crisis” were “overwhelmed.” He blamed it on what was done.

In a statement Wednesday, Abbott said the state “will continue to provide this much-needed relief through the next period.” [Biden] Do your job and stand up to defend your borders. The governor called LA “a city immigrants want to go to, especially now that its leaders have recognized its self-declared sanctuary status.”

The Los Angeles City Council recently approved a motion called the “Sanctuary City” law by city council members. This motion essentially codifies existing policy regarding the use of city resources for federal immigration enforcement. 2017 Executive Order It was issued by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti.

“clearly [Abbott’s] Los Angeles City Councilman Eunice Hernandez, who contributed to the “sanctuary city” motion proposal, said he was “a weak-minded far-right politician who can’t handle this moment of crisis that is happening.” “Instead of dealing with it as a leader…he’s ruining it for political stunts. We Los Angeles is a city for everyone, ready to support and welcome them.” .”

It’s the third time immigrants have been transferred to California from other states in recent weeks, and the move comes amid a heated national debate over how to deal with the influx of immigrants who cross the Mexican border into the United States each year. is deployed.

Florida officials last week took responsibility for two charter flights that transported 36 migrants to Sacramento on separate days. California Ati. General Rob Bonta on Wednesday filed a public records request with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ office and the Florida Department of Emergency Management to clarify the circumstances under which they were sent.

Many of those arriving in LA have connections to the area, but some families have immigration hearings in other states, including New York, raising logistical concerns. Local organizers added they believed they learned of the imminent arrival the night before and believed it was to upset them.

“It’s very important to reiterate that what happened here was meant to be a political stunt. It’s meant to shock Los Angeles and we’re trying to get these people out of humanity.” It was meant to be socially unwelcome,” said attorney Lindsey Tochilowski, executive director of the Center for Immigration Advocacy Law. “Certainly, if people have a connection to L.A. and want to go here, it might be good to bring them here.

“But doing it in a way that deliberately goes unnoticed to ensure that people are used as political props and do not get the resources and humanity they deserve is here. It’s really a problem.”

As governors in other states began shipping immigrants across the country, officials and organizers in the Los Angeles area began preparing.

Shortly after taking office, Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Wednesday that she directed city officials to make plans in case the city “became the target of the despicable acts that have become a favorite of Republican governors.”

Daniella Arbina, who works in the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, said supervisors have been preparing for “something like this” since last year when Florida and Texas sent immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard and Vice, Massachusetts. He said he has instructed county agencies to do so. The Washington home of President Kamala Harris.

The LA Welcomes Collective, a network of nonprofits, faith groups and immigrant rights groups, was founded to help immigrants arriving in Los Angeles feel welcome. Over the past few months, the group has received and welcomed recent arrivals who have come of their own accord.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Humanitarian Immigrant Rights Coalition, said organizers had heard rumors in recent months that Texas was sending immigrant buses to Los Angeles, but none of them were true. Stated. And on Tuesday night they received word that the bus would arrive in Los Angeles the next day. On Wednesday morning, it was confirmed that the bus was on its way out.

The group, which included 17 children, arrived around 4:30pm. A few were picked up at the train station by family members or sponsors, but the majority went to a welcome center set up at a nearby church.

“Actually, if this is a group from Texas and this is the destination, let’s organize it,” Salas said. “That’s not true [Abbott] hope. He wants the shadowy part of “they may come, they may not come.” ”

Some immigrants were separated from their husbands and children at the border. Her husband is still in Texas, fighting deportation, and her mother and child are “distraught,” Tochilowski said.

Tochilovski took a bus with the migrants to the church, telling them they were welcome in Los Angeles and that the organizers were happy to see them. Tochilovski said that when he told his mother and teenage daughter about it, his mother started crying.

“I thought so because it was the first time someone really welcomed her to the United States,” said Tochilovski.

Gereline Joseph, founder and executive director of the Haiti Bridge Alliance, an immigrant advocacy network that helps migrate black asylum seekers and others, said her organization knew even before the bus arrived in Los Angeles. rice field.

“For several months, we knew that buses could come to Southern California, including Orange County and Los Angeles,” Joseph said. “And we have worked with communities to prepare for the possible arrival of people seeking safety and protection.”

Joseph criticized Abbott’s and other Republican governors’ political messages, denouncing Abbott’s policy of “using people as pawns.” But she supports some of the efforts to transport migrants, she said.

“We will continue to be committed to welcoming all people with dignity. We will continue to welcome them,” Joseph said.

However, Mr. Youssef has made it clear that he supports migration only if migrants are actually transferred to where they want to go, and as long as full prior consent is guaranteed.

“for [Republican governors] Sending them to a place other than their final destination is inhumane and cruel,” Joseph said.

For years, Tiffany Burrow, director of operations for the Texas Valverde Border Humanitarian Coalition, has helped migrants arriving in Del Rio book travel elsewhere along the border. When Abbott announced the bus plan, Burrow became an active participant.

Many immigrants paroled by border agents have little money to travel and are unfamiliar with the vast geography of the United States.

Burroughs said she and other immigration advocates have championed the usefulness of buses, saying that while she didn’t always endorse the political message behind Abbott’s bus movement, the buses were used by many people. He said he would take people where they wanted to go.

At Del Rio, Barrow leads an orientation for recently paroled immigrants. She showed them a map of the United States and detailed where the buses would drop off in Texas. She and her team ensure that all immigrants who board are consenting and have a good reason for boarding. For example, she makes sure people who want to go to Florida don’t get on the bus to Chicago.

Barrow, who has backed buses to New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago, said he had doubts about the McAllen-to-Los Angeles bus, after a man held court in New York. She said the facts worried her.

“Immigrants can change their address to another location, but moving complicates matters,” Barraud said.

Many LA groups are thought to have ties to the area, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in Sacramento. Two migrants who were contacted and offered flights by contractors working under the DeSantis administration in El Paso said the Florida contractor did not specify where the flights would go, only saying it would land in California. They both declined the offer.

DeSantis and his spokesperson have defended the flight, claiming the migrants boarded voluntarily.

California Governor Gavin Newsom immediately condemned the plane and said it was investigating whether the administration “violated criminal law, including kidnapping.”

While it’s impossible to control DeSantis and Abbott’s actions, Tochilowski said, “The only thing we can control here in Los Angeles is how we respond. In that sense, how we really respond. We are proud and will continue to be ready to welcome people should something like this happen in the future.”

Times staff writer Melissa Gomez contributed to this report.