Texas, Arizona Keep Sending Buses of Migrants to Washington; DC Mayor Devotes $10 Million to Help

The Republican governors of Texas and Arizona have continued to bus migrants to Washington D.C., prompting its mayor to declare a 15-day public emergency on Thursday.

The Guardian reported that Mayor Muriel Bowser announced plans to create an office of migrant affairs to address the "humanitarian crisis" triggered by the bussing of migrants by the Republican governors.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent at least 9,400 migrants to Washington D.C. since April to push responsibility for border crossers to Democrats. Arizona imitated Texas' move, with Gov. Doug Ducey sending at least 1,500 people to the capital since mid-August.

Bowser is now eyeing the creation of an Office of Migrate Services that will carry various services such as temporary shelter, meals, and medical support.

Aside from the capital, New York state and Chicago have also received a busload of migrants from the Lone Star state.

Washington D.C. Mayor Declaring Public Emergency

The mayor said in a Washington Post report that the busing programs of the Republican governs caught the city "largely off-guard," despite many of those individuals already having left for other parts of the U.S.

Bowser said they are not a border town, adding that what they are doing now "is a new normal" for them. The mayor said that they are in need of an infrastructure that would address the border crisis.

The public emergency declaration would provide the use of $10 million of contingency funds to meet the needs of the migrants. Bowser also noted that the city will seek Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement for as much of the aid as possible.

The mayor said that the city will also create a framework for temporary shelter for the migrants that is different from the existing homeless services system.

Meanwhile, the mayor called the Republican state leaders' actions a "stunt" while taking aim against U.S. President Joe Biden for not offering more support, according to an Axios report.

In addition, the federal government has rejected the mayor's requests for the National Guard to be deployed to assist amid the migrant situation.

Texas and Arizona Governors Busing Migrants from U.S.-Mexico Border

Managing director of SAMU First Response, Tatiana Laborde, said the migrants' arrival from the U.S.-Mexico border has turned D.C. into an "unofficial border town," as reported by The Washington Post. Laborde said attending to the arriving migrants has been "intense" and something that they are "not used to."

The Texas governor's spending on the bus trips of the migrants has reached more than $12 million, with Abbott raising around $303,000 in private donations to help cushion the costs.

Initially, the migrants were told that they could get off at the stops if they plan to settle in states along the way, such as Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, and Illinois.

The city's Department of Human Services sent Laborde's organization COVID-19 test kits and helped migrants who wanted to leave the city to reach their next destination.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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