Busing migrants to sanctuary cities worked better than any lawsuit because it basically blew up the political groups that supported those rules.
While sanctuary cities successfully resisted federal lawsuits during the Trump administration, the logistical pressure of busing exploited internal divisions between different local interests. It suggests that physical logistics can be more disruptive to legal frameworks than actual litigation.
<p>Busing &amp; The Sanctuary City</p>
SSRN · 6300661
Sanctuary cities demonstrated notable legal resilience during the first Trump administration, withstanding legal and political pressure aimed at dismantling their policies. That resilience, however, was undermined by Texas's busing program in 2022 and 2023 in ways that earlier legal and political attacks could not achieve. As this Article argues, busing succeeded not merely by imposing fiscal and logistical burdens, but by surfacing longstanding internal cleavages and ultimately fracturing the c