 |
| Photo Credit: Fox News |
The Pentagon has rejected a request from Washington DC seeking help from the National Guard in combating the growing migrant crisis in the area.
The District of Columbia sought the help after DC mayor described what he called a “growing humanitarian crisis” which followed the busing of thousands of migrants from Arizona and Texas.
Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin refused to provide the Guard personnel sought by the
mayor as well as the use of the D.C. Armory to assist with the reception of
migrants into the city, The Associated Press quoted U.S. defense officials as
saying.
DC may send amended request for National Guard assistance to Pentagon
Mayor Muriel
Bowser said Friday that the district may send an amended, “more specific”
request and said it was the first time such request for National Guard was
declined.
Bower had
requested the White House last month to deploy 150 National Guard members per
day as well as a “suitable federal location” for a mass housing and processing center,
citing the D.C. Armory as a logical venue, The Associated Press reported.
Muriel
Bowser had cried out over more than 5,100 migrants transported by bus to
Washington, DC by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott sends over 5,000 migrants to Washington DC
Abbott’s
office said more than 5,100 migrants have arrived in Washington from Texas on
more than 135 buses.
The migrant
crisis began after Republican Governors Doug Ducey of Arizona and Greg Abbott
of Texas began shipping migrants from their states to Washington after
President Joe Biden said in April he would lift a Trump-era order restricting
border crossings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The first
bus arrived in mid-April, but city officials and non-government organizations
working with the migrants who travel voluntarily- have been increasingly
concerned about the number of migrants arriving in recent weeks.
D.C's migrant situation has reached "tipping point" - Mayor
Christopher
Rodriguez, director of Washington, D.C.'s emergency management agency, said in
the letter on behalf of the mayor, that the situation has reached "tipping
points" as more buses arrived in the last month, according to Newsweek.
The mayor's
office was requesting to convert the DC Armory, Joint Base Bolling, Fort McNair
or another "suitable federal location in the National Capital Region"
into a processing center for the migrants. The regional welcome center
established to receive the migrants in Montgomery County, Maryland, could no
longer receive further migrants, according to the request.
The Associated
Press reported that on Friday Abbott said the first group of migrants from his
state had been bused to New York as well.
How many migrants have been sent from Texas and Arizona to Washington D.C.?
While 5,200
migrants had been bused from Texas to D.C. as of mid-July, more than 1,300
migrants had been bused from Arizona as of August 3 since May.
Bowser
accused Abbott and Ducey of “cruel political gamesmanship” and saying the pair
had “decided to use desperate people to score political points,” according to
The Associated Press.
Abbott said
Biden’s “refusal to acknowledge the crisis caused by his open border policies”
forced Texas to “take unprecedented action to keep our communities safe,” and
hence send the migrants to a new destination – New York.
“In addition
to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants,
who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric
Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city,” Abbott said.