- The White Home slammed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after busloads of migrants arrived in Washington, DC.
- Busloads of migrants arrived on Christmas Eve outdoors of Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence.
- The transfer comes as the way forward for an immigration coverage often called Title 42 stays unsure.
The White Home condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after busloads of migrants had been reportedly dropped off outdoors of Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence in Washington, DC, on one of many coldest Christmas Eve days on report within the nation’s capital.
“Governor Abbott deserted kids on the facet of the highway in under freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve with out coordinating with any Federal or native authorities,” White Home spokesperson Abdullah Hasan mentioned in an announcement. “This was a merciless, harmful, and shameful stunt.”
Democrats have blamed the state of affairs on Abbott, who has since April bused migrants from Texas to main Democratic-led cities, together with Washington, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, to protest the Biden administration’s immigration insurance policies.
“As we’ve repeatedly mentioned, we’re keen to work with anybody – Republican or Democrat alike – on actual options, like the great immigration reform and border safety measures President Biden despatched to Congress on his first day in workplace,” Hasan added, “however these political video games accomplish nothing and solely put lives in peril.”
Within the newest transfer, three buses crammed with greater than 100 migrants arrived from Texas on December 24 to the Naval Observatory, the place Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff reside, in accordance with a number of information experiences.
A mutual-aid group, which has for months been welcoming these migrants, mentioned the buses had been despatched by the Texas Division of Emergency Administration, per The New York Instances. Volunteers coordinated transportation, momentary housing and meals for the migrants.
“It actually does present the cruelty behind Gov. Abbott and his insistence on persevering with to bus folks right here with out care about folks arriving late at night time on Christmas Eve when the climate is so chilly,” Amy Fischer, an organizer on the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Assist Community, instructed native information outlet WJLA. “Persons are getting off the buses, they do not have coats, they do not have garments for this type of climate, they usually’re freezing.”
Abbott has not claimed duty over the newest arrivals of migrants within the District, and his workplace didn’t instantly return Insider’s request for touch upon Monday.
The Texas governor has repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden’s response to the inflow of migrants on the US-Mexico border and referred to as for federal help to handle the border crossings. Abbott beforehand despatched migrants to Harris’ residence in September to stress the administration to take additional motion.
“Texas will proceed sending migrants to sanctuary cities like Washington, D.C. till President Biden and Border Czar Harris step up and do their jobs to safe the border,” Abbott mentioned in an announcement on the time.
The Lone Star State has bused greater than 8,700 migrants to the nation’s capital for the reason that spring, in accordance with an announcement from the governor’s workplace launched final week.
In a letter to the president on December 20, Abbott urged Biden to “safe the southern border” as the way forward for a controversial Trump-era immigration coverage that allowed the US to show away asylum seekers on the border out of public well being issues stays unsure.
The Title 42 coverage, enacted on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, was set to finish final week however the Supreme Court docket has briefly stored it in place. Abbott and different Republican governors have urged the courts to keep up the coverage, saying that its expiration would lead to a rise in migrants on the border and exacerbate the issue.
