Two buses carrying migrants and asylum seekers have arrived close to the house of United States Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, DC, in what critics have denounced as an effort by Republicans to make use of migrants as “political pawns” forward of midterm elections.
Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, mentioned in a press release on Thursday that 100 migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela had been dropped off close to Harris’s residence.
“Texas will proceed sending migrants to sanctuary cities like Washington, DC till President [Joe] Biden and Border Czar Harris step up and do their jobs to safe the border,” Abbott mentioned.
Harris was appointed final yr by Biden, a Democrat, to guide his administration’s efforts to stem migration on the US’s southern border with Mexico, which has seen a surge in asylum seeker arrivals in current months.
Texas dropped off two buses of migrants exterior VP Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, D.C. at the moment.
We are going to proceed sending migrants to sanctuary cities like D.C. till Pres. Biden & Border Czar Harris step up & do their jobs to safe the border. https://t.co/95xlAlCFDf
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) September 15, 2022
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro, reporting exterior of Harris’s dwelling on Thursday, mentioned about 100 individuals carrying just a few belongings got here out of the buses after a journey that was longer than 30 hours.
She mentioned an toddler and one other one that is diabetic had been taken on to the hospital. The others had been taken to a close-by church the place they got meals and shelter earlier than volunteers assisted them in reaching their subsequent locations, Zhou-Castro mentioned.
Help employees who responded on the scene mentioned “this was one more humiliation that these individuals, who’re attempting to flee violence and poverty in Latin America, had been made to endure on a journey that’s at instances already dehumanising”, Zhou-Castro reported.
Since April, Abbott has been busing migrants out of Texas to Washington, DC, New York Metropolis and Chicago – cities with Democratic mayors – as a part of a political technique to denounce the Biden administration’s immigration insurance policies, which Abbott argues are encouraging arrivals in his state.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has adopted the identical coverage.
The Republican governors say the trouble is geared toward highlighting the report variety of migrants attempting to cross into the US by way of its southern borders, and to share the burden of internet hosting asylum seekers.
BREAKING: Two buses of 101 migrants largely from Venezuela arrive exterior @VP Harris home in DC despatched by @GregAbbott_TX – one migrant telling me he believes the border is “open” @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/Q70utdE4k0
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) September 15, 2022
Texas is usually the primary vacation spot for migrants crossing from Mexico, and Abbott has mentioned that sending individuals to different elements of the nation will present reduction to Texas border communities.
“We’re sending migrants to [Harris’s] yard to name on the Biden administration to do its job & safe the border,” he tweeted.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, additionally not too long ago joined the trouble. On Wednesday, he flew two planes of immigrants to Martha’s Winery, a rich summer time vacation vacation spot within the US state of Massachusetts.
“Sure, Florida can verify the 2 planes with unlawful immigrants that arrived in Martha’s Winery at the moment had been a part of the state’s relocation programme to move unlawful immigrants to sanctuary locations,” Taryn Fenske, the governor’s communications director, instructed Fox Information Digital.
“Martha’s Winery residents must be thrilled about this. They vote for sanctuary cities – they get a sanctuary metropolis of their very own,” Christina Pushaw, a spokesperson for DeSantis’s re-election marketing campaign, mentioned on Twitter.
“Sanctuary cities” is a time period that refers to municipalities that don’t cooperate with federal authorities searching for to detain or deport undocumented immigrants.
However a number of state and native officers, in addition to migration rights advocates, have condemned the Republican effort as “evil and inhumane”.
Earlier this month, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot accused Abbott of “manufacturing a human disaster” by sending “human beings — not cargo, not freight, however human beings — throughout the nation to an unsure vacation spot”.
Massachusetts state Consultant Dylan Fernandes, a Democrat who represents Martha’s Winery, mentioned on Twitter that the immigrants had arrived with out warning from Florida.
“Many don’t know the place they’re. They are saying they had been instructed they’d be given housing and jobs. Islanders got no discover however are coming collectively as a neighborhood to help them,” Fernandes mentioned on Twitter.
“Republicans who name themselves Christians have been plotting for a while to make use of human lives – males, girls, and kids – as a political pawns [sic]. It’s evil and inhumane,” he additionally wrote.
In the meantime, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser final week declared a public emergency over the continued arrival of buses of migrants.
The district earlier requested US Nationwide Guard help to assist stem a “rising humanitarian disaster” prompted by the arrival of 1000’s of migrants, however the Pentagon rejected the request.
Republicans who name themselves Christians have been plotting for a while to make use of human lives – males, girls, and kids – as a political pawns. It’s evil and inhumane.
— Dylan Fernandes (@RepDylan) September 15, 2022