Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday a busload of migrants from his state had arrived in Denver.

Abbott made the announcement in a press release that the migrants had been bussed from Texas to Denver and dropped off in the city’s downtown area.

NYC FACES IRE OF RESIDENTS OVER PLAN TO HOUSE MIGRANTS IN BROOKLYN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GYM 

‘Texas’ overwhelmed and overrun border communities should not have to shoulder the flood of illegal immigration due to President Biden’s reckless open border policies, like his mass catch and release without court dates or any way to track them,’ Abbott said in the release. ‘Until the President and his Administration step up and fulfill their constitutional duty to secure the border, the State of Texas will continue busing migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities like Denver to provide much-needed relief to our small border towns.’ 

Abbott has bussed migrants to several cities, including New York City; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia.

Philadelphia officials said 34 asylum seekers arrived in their city Wednesday from Texas by bus, while another 46 migrants arrived Thursday.

The migrants are from Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic, according to the update. 

Philadelphia has received 23 total buses of migrants since November.

In Chicago — one city taking in migrants being bussed from Texas — newly-elected Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order which establishes a ‘deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant, and refugee rights.’

‘Mayor Johnson’s executive order to establish a Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, Migrant, and Refugee Rights makes the new role responsible for the coordination and communication between all applicable City departments and officials related to the City’s efforts to support newly arrived and established immigrants, refugees, and migrants,’ Johnson’s office said in a statement.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., a member of the far-left ‘Squad,’ on Thursday called Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a White supremacist, and said she wants Black people ‘targeted for harm’ after she said she felt ‘threatened’ by his ‘physical mannerisms.’

Speaking to reporters outside the Capitol, Bowman addressed Greene’s comments, which she made during a press conference earlier in the day in response to a Wednesday altercation between the two.

‘This is why it is so important that we teach and know our history. There is a long tradition—that Marjorie should be well aware of—of Black men who are passionate, outspoken, or who stand their ground, being characterized as ‘threatening’ or ‘intimidating.’ That’s what happened with Emmett Till, with Mike Brown, and with so many more,’ Bowman said.

‘Marjorie’s attack is beyond a dog-whistle. It’s a bullhorn. And it’s reckless and dangerous. She has put a target on my back,’ he said. ‘The truth of the matter is that we had a light back-and-forth on the steps of Capitol Hill, surrounded by reporters and staff. We can roll back the tapes and see her characterization of our conversation is an utter and blatant lie.’

‘This is, historically, what white supremacists do. They try to dehumanize Black people, Black skin, and Black humanity—so that we can be targeted for harm,’ he added.

Bowman doubled down in a post on Twitter later Thursday, saying, ‘White supremacists like Marjorie Taylor Greene use racist dog whistles to characterize outspoken, passionate Black men like me as threatening. But I won’t stop speaking truth to power.’

The two clashed following a Wednesday vote to send a resolution to expel embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., to the House Ethics Committee rather than directly take up the measure. As Santos spoke with reporters about the vote, Bowman and fellow ‘Squad’ member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., heckled him to resign.

According to footage of the spat, Bowman and Greene began shouting over each other, with him calling on her to vote to expel Santos, who is facing numerous federal charges and an ethics investigation, and her calling on him to ‘impeach Biden’ and ‘save the country.’ 

At a Thursday morning press conference, Greene told reporters she was ‘swarmed’ by a ‘mob’ led by Bowman, which she said was also captured on video, and that he called her a ‘White supremacist.’ 

‘He was the one that approached me — even CNN reported that — yelling, shouting, raising his voice. He has aggressive — his physical mannerisms are aggressive,’ Greene said, while also referring to a previous altercation Bowman had with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in March over gun violence, in which Bowman, appearing angry, continuously shouted over Massie as he tried to talk with him.

‘I think there’s a lot of concern about Jamaal Bowman, and I am concerned about it. I feel threatened by him,’ she said. ‘I am very concerned about Jamaal Bowman, and he’s someone people should watch.’

Greene was attacked by others following the press conference, including Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who referred to her comments as ‘blatant racism.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Greene’s office concerning the footage she said was captured on video beyond that which had already been circulating, but did not immediately receive a response.

Fox also reached out to Bowman’s office about the altercation with Greene, but was referred to his comments mentioned earlier.

Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday vetoed parts of a $6 billion public education spending plan backed by the Sunflower State’s Republican-dominated Legislature.Kelly’s objection to the bill is largely due to her taking issue with a provision she believes would cut rural schools’ funding.’This provision pulls the rug out from rural school districts at the 11th hour,’ Kelly claimed. ‘If the provision is enacted, it will bring dangerous and devastating consequences for our rural districts.’

Kansas’ Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed parts of the Republican-backed $6 billion funding plan for the state’s K-12 schools, setting up a likely legal battle that will test her office’s powers.

Gov. Laura Kelly, who won reelection in the conservative state in November, issued a statement explaining her decision to take the unprecedented step of vetoing parts of the proposed education budget, saying she objected to one provision, in particular, that she says would cut funding for rural public schools, which have been dealing with declining enrollment.

‘This provision pulls the rug out from rural school districts at the 11th hour,’ Kelly said. ‘If the provision is enacted, it will bring dangerous and devastating consequences for our rural districts.’

Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature, quickly issued a joint statement criticizing Kelly, saying the state’s constitution limits line-item vetoes to appropriations.

‘We strongly encourage the Attorney General to immediately review this unconstitutional overreach,’ they said.

The spending plan, which would provide the bulk of the money that the state’s 286 school districts rely on, would also expand a program aimed at providing private school scholarships for low-income families. Although Kelly opposes that provision, she didn’t veto it.

Kelly said that because the bill mixed policy with funding, the Kansas Constitution allows her to veto parts but not all of the bill, as it does with legislation setting the state’s annual budgets. Top Republicans are likely to object and to challenge the assertion in court.

The issue has never been tested legally, creating uncertainty about how much money school districts might have and what policies they might face the next academic year.

In her statement, Kelly said the GOP-backed bill would change the way districts count their enrollment, which determines their funding. Currently, districts are allowed to use one of the two previous school years to determine how much money they will receive.

The new education bill requires districts to use the current or previous year’s enrollment to determine appropriations. That provision would force districts with declining enrollments to immediately make changes to budgets they have already approved for the upcoming year, she said.

Kelly also noted that the Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the current method for determining enrollment, and she said changing the formula would raise questions over the state’s compliance with that law.

Education groups had pushed Kelly to veto the bill even though it would increase the state’s total aid to districts by about 4% for the next school year. The increases would vary by district, with 29 — most with fewer than 700 students — receiving less aid than they did this school year.

Kelly has signed education bills with a similar marriage of funding and policy in the past. But she and top Republicans clashed repeatedly over her handling of the coronavirus pandemic. GOP lawmakers forced her to accept a whittling away of the powers of her office and of local officials to close schools and businesses and impose mask mandates.

If Kelly had vetoed the entire bill, she would have forced a special legislative session to ensure that schools are funded for the next school year because lawmakers have adjourned for the year. If she were to lose a court battle over her vetoing parts of the bill, it’s unclear if the entire bill would become law or if it would die altogether.

Educators also were upset that GOP lawmakers rejected Kelly’s proposal to phase in a 70% increase in funding for programs for students with physical or intellectual disabilities, or behavioral problems. It would have required an extra $72 million in the next state budget, but legislators only approved $7.5 million.

Kelly said she was disappointed that lawmakers didn’t increase special education funding and that they need to ‘correct their mistake’ when they return for next year’s session.

In a statement Thursday, the Kansas Association of School Boards praised Kelly’s line-item veto and also expressed disappointment in lawmakers’ ‘inadequate response’ to special education funding at a time when the state has a record budget surplus.

And educators opposed provisions that would expand an income tax credit program for donors to funds that provide annual private school scholarships of up to $8,000 annually to students from low-income families. Although the total credits would remain capped at $10 million a year, more students would be eligible for the scholarships.

Kelly said most Kansans don’t support such policies, and she chastised lawmakers for ‘logrolling’ them into the education funding bill rather than proposing them as separate bills.

Conservative Republicans wanted to pass a far broader plan to use state education dollars to help parents pay for private or home schooling for their children, something GOP lawmakers have enacted in other states, including Iowa, South Carolina and Utah.

Kelly is strongly opposed to the idea, saying public funds should go to public schools. Republican legislators were split.

The state constitution says that if any bill ‘contains several items of appropriation of money,’ the governor can veto one or more ‘such items’ while signing the rest.

While lawmakers often set policy in the budget with provisions directing how money must be spent or prohibiting some spending, those provisions are in effect only for a year. In the past, it’s been uncommon for lawmakers to mix spending with measures rewriting state laws permanently, so governors haven’t previously taken actions similar to Kelly’s.

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