A steady flow of migrants arriving by bus in Washington, D.C., is dialing up pressure on the Biden administration over its handling of southern border enforcement and the effect it is having on the nation.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) has called for the National Guard as it became clear that volunteer-led efforts to assist the migrants would be insufficient. More than 4,000 immigrants have arrived in Washington on more than 200 buses since April, and Bowser predicted the pace would quicken before calling for federal help.
WHITE HOUSE PUNTS ON MIGRANTS BUSED TO DC: GOP ‘USING’ THEM AS ‘POLITICAL PAWNS’
“Tragically, many families arrive in Washington, DC with nowhere to go, or they remain in limbo seeking onward destinations across the United States,” Bowser wrote in her request. “With pledges from Texas and Arizona to continue these abhorrent operations indefinitely, the situation is dire, and we consider this a humanitarian crisis — one that could overwhelm our social support network without immediate and sustained federal intervention.”
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) have been sending busloads of immigrants who volunteered for the journey into the nation’s capital for four months, seeking to familiarize Washington’s politicians and journalists with the impact of illegal migration and protesting the end of Title 42.
The number of Border Patrol encounters with illegal border crossers rose from 646,822 in fiscal year 2020 to 1,956,519 in 2021 and to 2,002,604 so far in 2022. The Biden administration has allowed at least 1.25 million to remain in the country.
Despite the rising numbers, the White House initially dismissed the busing program as a political ploy that would not take hold.
“I think it’s pretty clear this is a publicity stunt. [Abbott’s] own office admits that a migrant would need to voluntarily be transported and that he can’t compel them to,” then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on April 7. “Because again, enforcement of our country’s immigration laws lies with the federal government, not a state. … The governor of Texas or any state does not have the legal authority to compel anyone to get on a bus.”
But thousands of volunteers have done just that in the weeks since, with most arriving at Union Station, in view of the Capitol dome. Psaki’s replacement, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Thursday that Ducey and Abbott are “using” the migrants as a “political tool.” A reporter pressed the issue, asking whether the White House would prefer for migrants to stay in small towns in Texas and Arizona rather than come to big cities.
“That is not what I said,” she responded. “They said that they’re sending migrants to big cities on purpose, using them as a political point. I’m saying that what Republicans are doing is wrong and there is a process in place, and we should follow the process.”
Neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris has commented on the situation. Biden has not visited the southern border since taking office, while Harris, the administration’s border czar, visited once in June 2021.
Abbott took a victory lap of sorts at the attention a relatively small number of migrants arriving in the nation’s capital has generated.
“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,” Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze wrote in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “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.”
The Department of Defense has not responded to Bowser’s request for guard help yet, calling it a pending request. The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Abbott and Ducey are calling for the Biden administration to step up immigration enforcement and bring back such Trump-era initiatives as “Remain in Mexico.”
The busing program is having its intended effect in that leaders in Washington have started taking notice of what border communities face but may not ultimately succeed in the wider goal of getting the president to enforce border policy more aggressively, argues Heritage Foundation Border Security and Immigration Center Director Lora Ries.
“Washington, D.C., and New York City are both sanctuary cities, and the mayors are not asking the Biden administration to change its open border policies,” she said. “What the mayors want is more U.S. taxpayer money to pay for the illegal aliens in their cities. While the Biden administration is experiencing a spotlight on the issue that it does not want, the administration is not getting sufficient pressure to change course — and it won’t.”
Bowser’s call for the guard also upset some on the Left. A group called Sanctuary DMV called for a more humanitarian response that doesn’t involve the military, releasing a statement saying, “The continued militarization and criminalization of poverty and immigration will contribute to harms to both arriving migrants and the DC community at large.”
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While some progressives favor the loosening of immigration policy, and despite the rising number of crossings, the White House continues to insist that the border is not open.
“We’re focused on continuing our historic actions to disrupt dangerous smuggling networks, including through a new anti-smuggling campaign that just in the first two months resulted in over 1,800 arrests,” Jean-Pierre said in late June following the deaths of more than 50 migrants in San Antonio. “But the fact of the matter is the border is closed.”
