White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Govs. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) “shameful” and “cruel” for “using migrants as political pawns.”
Both governors have been busing groups of undocumented migrants to cities along the Eastern Seaboard, and Jean-Pierre was asked specifically during Thursday’s press briefing about the planeloads of migrants DeSantis sent to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday and the busloads of migrants Abbott sent to Vice President Kamala Harris’s home in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
TEXAS SENDS BUSLOADS OF MIGRANTS TO VP’S HOME IN WASHINGTON, DC
“There’s a process in place. We have had a process in place. There’s a legal way of doing this for managing migrants,” she responded. “Republican governors interfering in that process, and using migrants as political pawns is shameful, is reckless, and just plain wrong. And remember, these are people who are fleeing communism, who are fleeing hardship.”
“They deserve better than being left on the streets of DC or being left in Martha’s Vineyard, they deserve a lot better than that,” she continued. “What they are doing is an illegal stunt, is a political stunt, and it’s really just disrespectful to humanity.”
Later in the briefing, Jean-Pierre referred questions about the administration’s legal recourse to the Department of Justice but called on other Republicans to join the administration in “calling out” DeSantis and Abbott.
“How do we stop this? We call this out,” she explained. “Republicans should call this out as well. It is endangering people’s lives, and it is inhumane. It is taking away people’s dignity.”
“The question is, will Republicans call out their colleagues for playing political — a cruel political game, a cruel political stunt with migrants and families and children who are fleeing communism?” Jean-Pierre closed. “Let’s see whether Republicans will call this out as well.”
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You can watch Thursday’s briefing in full below.
