OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Some months ago, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to begin bussing migrants who had illegally crossed into his state of Texas to Washington, D.C., as a means of punishing Democrats and President Joe Biden for refusing to get serious about border security.
“Abbott announced last week that he was directing the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to transport migrants released from federal custody in Texas to the nation’s capital and other locations outside his state,” Fox News reported in April, shortly after the GOP governor made his pledge.
“By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border,” Abbott said in a statement at the time.
“Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden administration’s failure to secure our border,” he added.
Not long after, the first busses from Texas full of illegal aliens began arriving in the nation’s capital.
“The bus pulled up at approximately 8 a.m. local time, blocks away from the U.S. Capitol building. Individuals disembarked one by one except for family units who exited together. They checked in with officials and had wristbands they were wearing cut off before being told they could go,” the report added.
“According to TDEM, Abbott’s plan is already working. The agency told Fox News on Monday that many of the communities that originally reached out for support – from the Rio Grande Valley to Terrell County – say the federal government stopped dropping immigrants in their towns since Abbott’s announcement on April 6,” the report continued.
Not long after, Arizona’s GOP governor, Doug Ducey, followed suit and began bussing illegal aliens to D.C. as well.
Taxes Governor keeping his promise to his state https://t.co/eQ59Jp6Kwx
— TheCajunConservativeShow (@thecajunshow) April 13, 2022
The White House initially dismissed Abbott’s original plan as a “publicity stunt,” but Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser is now asking for federal assistance in dealing with the crush of migrants because they are now taking up all available space in the city’s homeless shelters while absorbing other resources.
Bowser discussed the issue during an interview Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“So, I want to ask you, The New York Times had this piece on the housing crisis and homelessness in America and it highlighted D.C. as just one of those cities that has just persistently not had enough housing to meet demand,” host Margaret Brennan said before asking: “You’ve been working on reducing homelessness. Is the prime issue supply?”
“Well, we’ve been working on creating affordable housing and producing more and preserving more. And we are among the jurisdictions, I would say, that lead the nation in being a local partner in production. So, just in the last seven years, we’ve invested more than $1.4 billion in doing exactly that,” Bowser began.
“We’re equally invested in making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring in our city. And we have a plan to get there. We’ve seen our rates of family homelessness, for example, decrease by 78 percent. Chronic homelessness also. We’re attacking and driving those numbers down for most categories,” she said.
Brennan continued along the line of questioning: “The Washington Post reported last week that homeless shelters in D.C. were filling up and groups are getting overwhelmed by these buses that the governors of Texas and Arizona are sending here full of migrants. How significant is this influx? How many people?”
“Well, this is a very significant issue,” Bowser responded. “We have, for sure, called on the federal government to work across state lines to prevent people from really being tricked into getting on buses. We think they’re largely asylum seekers who are going to final destinations that are not Washington, D.C.
“I worked with the White House to make sure that FEMA provided a grant to a local organization that is providing services to folks. But I fear that they’re being tricked into nationwide bus trips when their final destinations are places all over the United States of America,” she said.
WATCH:
Homeless shelters in Washington D.C. are filling up with asylum seekers from Texas and Arizona. Mayor Bowser says “I fear that they're being tricked into nationwide bus trips when their final destinations are places all over the United States of America.” pic.twitter.com/7OOH6F2Dpl
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 17, 2022
