It was reported that in Washington, D.C., and New York City, more buses have arrived carrying illegal immigrants, including one that dropped off migrants close to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence. Republican governors in border states like Texas and Arizona have been chartering buses for months now, to carry migrants north and east into sanctuary cities and other parts of the country so that they can await the processing of their asylum claims there. The migrants go voluntarily as in most cases they go to meet and stay with family members or friends already in the country.
But the governors are being accused by critics of using migrants as “political pawns” or even of “kidnapping” them. President Joe Biden’s administration is not doing enough to secure the border, GOP officials say, while also saying that sending migrant buses to Democrat-run cities is a form of protest to show the reality facing border towns every day.
Since announcing the policy in April, 8,000 migrants were sent to D.C., Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said, so this is not the first time migrants have arrived outside Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory in the nation’s capital. After the vice president gave an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” during which she claimed the border was secure even as the U.S. is projected to have a record two million people cross the border this year, Abbott began sending the migrants to her residence, according to The Blaze.
“The Biden-Harris Administration continues ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years,” Abbott said. “Our supposed border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, has yet to even visit the border to see firsthand the impact of the open border policies she has helped implement, even going so far as to claim the border is ‘secure,’” he added.
Against the governors sending migrants, Democratic leaders in cities which received them have lashed out and demanded federal assistance to house them. Muriel Bowser, the Washington, D.C., Mayor, called the situation in her city a “humanitarian crisis” in July and asked for the National Guard to be activated.
A public emergency over the migrant buses from Texas and Arizona last month was declared by Bowser. Emergency funding will be activated after her declaration, to care for the migrants and set up the Office of Migrant Services. Temporary accommodations will be provided by the office, as well as medical care, transportation, and other services for migrants.
In New York City, two migrant buses have arrived as well. More than 16,000 illegal immigrants have been sent to New York from border states since May, Mayor Eric Adams’ office has said. For failing to come up with solutions to the migrant crisis, the mayor blasted both the “far right” and the “far left.”
Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers would be constructed in various locations in the city to temporarily house migrants in tents, Adams also announced. Adams is close to striking a deal to house migrants on cruise ships, local news station WNYW-TV also reported.
Meanwhile, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) pleaded for a “federal solution.” “Let’s look at federal facilities, federal staff to help supplement the city and the state,” Hochul said in an interview.
