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| Photo Credit: AP. |
A mayor of a Texas border town has slammed the mayors of New York and Washington, D.C, in their growing complaint about the state’s busing program which involves transporting migrants who arrive in Texas to their states, arguing that McAllen gets a thousand migrants every day.
More migrants arrived New York and Washington from Arizona and Texas
Arizona and
Texas have both transported thousands of migrants arriving through the Mexico
border to New York – a sanctuary state, and Washington in a bid to protest
Biden’s policy on illegal migration. Mr. Biden announced in April he would
scrap the Trump administration policy which banned migrants from entering the
United States to control the spread of coronavirus.
Washington
Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York Mayor Eric Adams condemned the migrants busing
program to their cities, calling the action a “humanitarian crisis” and
“inhumane”.
"You
see New York, you see Washington kind of drowning with a few buses,"
Javier Villalobos, the mayor of McAllen, Texas, told Fox News, Washington
Examiner reports. "We used to get over a thousand-something people a day.”
5,200 migrants bused From Texas to D.C. as of mid-July
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 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey of “cruel political
gamesmanship” and saying the pair had “decided to use desperate people to score
political points,” according to The Associated Press.
Biden immigration policies fueling migrant crisis - Abbott
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.
Washington received 6,800 migrants from Texas in four months
In the last
four months over 6,800 migrants have been bused from Texas to Washington, D.C.
and another 360 of them have been transported to New York City since last week,
according to Texas Gov. Abbott’s office, Washington Examiner reports
“I think they
can handle a few hundred,” Villalobos said in reference to thousands his small
border town handles per day..
Adams also
argued that the migrants in Texas were “forced” to ride the bus and were “not
allowed” to go their desired locations, according to Washington Examiner.
“Some of the
families are on the bus that wanted to go to other locations, and they were not
allowed to do so. They were forced on the bus,” the mayor said last week. “Our
goal is to immediately find out each family’s needs and give them the
assistance they want.”
Pentagon rejected Washington, D.C. request for National Guard to combat migrant crisis
The Pentagon
earlier rejected a request from Washington DC seeking help from the National
Guard in combating the growing migrant crisis in the area.
Adams
promised to offer migrants who wish to stay in the city shelter while the
district’s Office of the Attorney General announced it would offer grants to
local humanitarian groups to help cover the costs of housing, food, clothing,
transportation, and legal assistance being offered to migrants, according to
Washington Examiner.