As busses of migrants continue to arrive in Washington D.C. while sub-zero temperatures hit the U.S., White House officials have denounced the practice.
“This was a cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt,” White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan said in a statement on Sunday, according to ABC News.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also referred to these moves as “political stunts” while discussing Title 42 last week.
Title 42 allowed U.S. officials to prevent migrants from entering the country due to public health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It was expected to be lifted Wednesday.
Hasan added that President Joe Biden and the White House are willing to work to come up with better solutions to immigration issues than sending busloads of immigrants to various places. For example, three buses carrying 139 migrants from Texas arrived Saturday outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory, ABC News reported.
Amy Fischer, an organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, told the outlet she was outside the Naval Observatory as buses began arriving after about 7:45 p.m. the day after Christmas.
Already, Texas has bussed around 8,700 migrants to D.C. since April, over 4,500 migrants to New York City since Aug. 5, more than 1,500 migrants to Chicago since Aug. 31, and more than 520 migrants to Philadelphia since Nov. 15, according to a Dec. 22 press release from Gov. Greg Abbott regarding the expected expiration of Title 42.
In addition to Abbott, his fellow Republicans Arizona Gov. Greg Ducey and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have sent migrants to other parts of the country, typically areas led by Democrats.
Earlier in December another busload arrived at the National Observatory and an even earlier one arrived in September. Harris too has called the moves “political stunts” that play “games with human life.”
“Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps left by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border,” said Abbott’s press release. “Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Biden’s open border policies.”
However, “the fact that the removal of Title 42 is happening in just a day or two doesn’t mean that the border is open,” Jean-Pierre said last week. “It just doesn’t mean that. When Title 42 goes away, we will go back to Title 8, which allows for a process to make sure that people can have their own asylum claims heard, and those who do not have a legal basis to remain will be quickly removed.”
As of Christmas Eve, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was still enforcing Title 42.
When the recent bus of migrants arrived in D.C. this week, temperatures were in the teens, according to National Weather Service data cited by ABC News. A spokesperson for Abbott confirmed that the governor’s administration sent them to the nation’s Capital.
“None of the migrants wore cold weather gear, Fischer said, though many had blankets to wrap up in,” said the outlet. They included immigrants from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru and Nicaragua, Fischer said, and most spoke Spanish.
Record-breaking weather hit areas across the nation last week, bringing cold and snow to southern cities such as Dallas, Texas, and New Orleans, La. This cold snap also lead to deaths across the country.
According to ABC, Abbott “pushed back against the Biden administration’s sharp criticism of him,” Monday.
“The White House is full of a bunch of hypocrites, led by the Hypocrite-in-Chief… Instead of their hypocritical complaints about Texas providing much-needed relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities, President Biden and Border Czar Harris need to step up and do their jobs to secure the border – something they continue failing to do,” Renae Eze, a spokesperson for Abbott, said in a statement, per the outlet.
Related
Related
