D.C. mayor asks for National Guard help for migrants bussed from Texas, Arizona
The mayor of Washington D.C. is asking for National Guard help to deal with an influx of asylum seekers who were bussed to the nation’s capital by the governors of Texas and Arizona.
Local aid groups said they are overwhelmed, and homeless shelters there are overcrowded.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said the strategy in bussing migrants was to bring the border crisis to President Joe Biden’s doorstep.
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said they do have a humanitarian crisis on their hands and need help, while also calling the bussing "cruel political gamesmanship."
As migrants continue to arrive in Washington D.C., officials there said they are running out of resources to take care of all the people.
"Well, we need space and we need the federal government to be involved," Mayor Bower said.
Bowser faced questions Thursday about a letter she sent to the White House and Pentagon requesting the activation of the D.C. National Guard.
District officials said they’ve encountered more than 4,000 people arriving on more than 200 buses since Gov. Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced in April plans to ship migrants to the country’s center of political power.
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Bowser writes in her letter: "The migrant crisis facing our city and our country through cruel political gamesmanship from the Governors of Texas and Arizona must be dealt with at a federal level."
"The number of people crossing the border, seeking asylum, we expect to only go up, and we need to make sure there is a national response, not an ad hoc, city by city, state by state response," Bowser said Thursday.
Shelters in D.C. have reached max capacity, with some migrants left sleeping outside Union Station.
Aid groups have for weeks said they are overwhelmed.
"How can I let them sleep on the floor of Union Station? So I started to host another family, and at that point, there were 10 people in my house," Megan Felix, organizing director for Beloved Community Incubator, said earlier this month.
"President Biden has not given this issue any attention, and neither have our local officials," Bianca Vazquez, program director and volunteer for Beloved Community Incubator, said earlier this month.
White House officials did not commit to National Guard support, referring reporters to the Department of Fefense.
"We have been in regular touch with Mayor Bowser and her team, and I said this before, I said this last week about Republicans using migrants as political tools, and that is shameful and just wrong," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Gov. Abbott declined a request for an interview, but said in a statement Thursday: "Washington, D.C. finally understands what Texans have been dealing with every single day, as our communities are overrun and overwhelmed by thousands of illegal immigrants thanks to President Biden’s open border policies. If the mayor wants a solution to this crisis, she should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border—something he has failed to do."