First busload of illegal immigrants from Texas arrives in Washington, D.C.

The first busload of illegal immigrants arrived Wednesday in Washington, D.C., from Texas, after GOP Gov. Greg Abbott vowed he would transport any of them who arrived in his state to the nation's capital. 

The bus arrived at about 8 a.m. and parked in front of the media building that is home to Fox News, NBC and C-SPAN, blocks from the United States Capitol complex.

Fox News captured footage of the arrivals.

"Because communities are being overwhelmed by hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden Administration – Texas is providing charter buses for these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off to Washington, D.C.," Abbott said last week. "We are sending them to the United States capital, where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border."

Each bus being sent from Texas can carry about 40 migrants. The vehicles were sent to border towns in the Rio Grande Valley and Terrell County and transported migrants who volunteered to board.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Abbott's move a "publicity stunt."

"His own office admits that a migrant would need to voluntarily be transported, and then he can​’t ​compel them to because​,​ again, enforcement of our country’s immigration laws lies with the federal government and not a state," she said. 

The president has faced pushback from Republicans and members of his own party over his stated decision to terminate Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed border authorities to expel thousands of illegal migrants without hearing asylum claims.