DC Democrats beg for help as border states bus migrants to Biden's backyard | Washington Examiner
By: anna-giaritelli (Washington Examiner)
deleted - taunting SP
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
AUSTIN, Texas — More than 150 buses traveling from Arizona and Texas have transported nearly 6,000 migrants to the nation's capital over the past three months, and Democrats in Washington are complaining that they cannot accommodate the mass releases.
The operation has collectively cost both border states millions of taxpayer dollars, including $6.8 million in Texas to date. But Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who initiated the operation in mid-April, said the move is having the desired results — getting Washington politicians a little taste of how communities have been inundated under President Joe Biden.
"Governor Abbott launched Texas's border bus mission back in April to bring President Biden's border crisis to his backyard in Washington, D.C., and to help Texas border communities that are being overrun as the federal government dumps migrants in their towns," Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
"Now, D.C. is experiencing just a fraction of the humanitarian crisis overwhelming our border communities and our state every single day," Eze continued. "With our nation's capital finally feeling the pressure of President Biden's reckless open border policies, it's time he does his job and secures the border."
Since mid-April, more than 125 buses have transported 4,800 migrants from Texas border communities — such as the Rio Grande Valley, Del Rio, Uvalde, and Eagle Pass — nearly 2,000 miles to Washington. Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) commenced a similar initiative in mid-May and has had 27 buses carrying more than 1,000 passengers from the border to D.C. in that time, according to spokeswoman Morgan Carr.
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The Texas Department of Emergency Management is running the bus operation as a natural disaster evacuation, asking passengers to sign a waiver agreeing to transport them to Washington at no cost and with nonperishable meals provided on board.
"The action TDEM has taken to facilitate bus transportation for migrants to DC came at the direction of Governor Abbott following requests from local officials whose border communities are overwhelmed by the mass release of migrants by the federal government in Texas," wrote Seth Christensen, TDEM chief of media and communications, in an email Friday.
The $6.8 million cost includes invoices that TDEM has received to date and is expected to rise as invoices continue to roll in.
The bus drop-off response has fallen on the shoulders of volunteers. A coalition of 20 community organizations in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia known as theMigrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network has been on site on Capitol Hill to meet arriving buses for most of the three months. Last week, Sanctuary DMV leader Madhvi Bahl said the group was taking its first two-day break due to a coronavirus exposure and in "protest of the unsustainable conditions created by the lack of government response."
The organizations said they have spent $260,000 of "grassroots raised money" and are out of funding, though Sanctuary DMV did not respond to requests for comment. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has reimbursed millions of dollars of expenses for nonprofits that assist migrants nationwide over the past year.
Washington politicians are now echoing the same complaints that border state governors, mayors, and county commissioners have made the past year: that they cannot handle the influx of people being released into their communities daily.
The majority of the District of Columbia's heavily Democratic City Council sent Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser a letter Thursday urging her to send in district resources and ask the federal government for assistance to handle the roughly 100 people arriving per day into the metropolitan region. Some migrants need permanent and temporary housing, money, food, clothing, directions, and planning assistance, which volunteers are unable to sustain.
"After three months with no direct support from the District government, they are burned out and overwhelmed," the 10 D.C. council members wrote. "With the number of buses arriving every day increasing rapidly, we encourage you to mobilize your administration to coordinate with other jurisdictions in the region to step in and assist with the response."
Bowser acknowledged Sunday the buses of migrants are creating a "very significant issue" for D.C. and urged the federal government to initiate a "coordinated federal response" to assist communities.
"I fear that they're being tricked into nationwide bus trips when their final destinations are places all over the United States of America," Bowser told CBS' "Face the Nation."
Texas has borne the brunt of illegal immigration at the southern border since Biden took office. Well over half of all migrants encountered trying to enter the U.S. have been stopped in Texas.
Because thousands of migrants are released and permitted to travel anywhere in the country each day, regional airports and bus lines are overwhelmed. For example, the sole nonprofit group assisting migrants in the Arizona border city of Yuma has begun transporting people to airports across state lines due to a shortage of flights in Yuma and Phoenix.
The buses from Arizona and Texas are free of charge to migrants and taxpayer-funded, though Texas is accepting public donations to offset costs. They serve as a means of easing the transportation burden on Texas towns and nonprofit organizations that are overwhelmed as several thousand migrants are released into the country daily.
Some Republicans, including former senior Homeland Security official from the Trump administration, Ken Cuccinelli, have criticized the busing operation.
"Busing illegals to D.C. is nice showmanship, but nothing here will change the illegal flow into Texas," Cuccinelli, senior fellow for the conservative Center for Renewing America, said in a statement in April.
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At present, 7,000 people are being stopped while illegally entering the country daily. Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security secretary during the Obama administration, once described 1,000 apprehensions per day as being at a crisis level.
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hahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA
Funny that the Democrats have zero problems forcing them on other cities and states, but when the tables are turned and the illegals show up on their doorstep in DC they scream bloody murder!
They made the damn problem; now they don't want to deal with the consequences! Typical!
The Biden administration should be forced to release the cost of shipping illegals all across the US to the US taxpayer. While the author bitches about the cost to Texas of shipping the illegals to DC; he completely omits what it is costing all of us for the Administration to ship illegals all across the US.
Start sending illegals to Biden's home addresses. He has enough of them. Let his family figure out what to do with them. They have several million in Chinese funds available- time for them to start putting their money where their mouth is.
“This is a very significant issue. We have called on the federal government to work across state lines to prevent people from really being tricked into getting on buses . We think they’re largely asylum-seekers or going to final destinations that are not Washington, D.C.,” Bowser told CBS News on Sunday. “ But I fear that they’re being tricked into nationwide bus trips when their final destinations are places all over the United States.”
Those tricky Texans.
What do you do when you need a dentist?
“We have a crisis at our southern border,” Senator (D-AZ) Mark Kelly said.
He sent Pres Biden a letter asking to continue some construction along exposed sections of the southern border wall.
He specifically references the ongoing situation in Yuma.
Kelly may very well be one of the first Democrats to take the public stance.
He says he has concerns about border security and wants to close the so-called gaps. The Morelos Dam in Yuma, is considered one of those gaps, where literally hundreds of people are being funneled through that open section every single day.
He's finally speaking up about this, because he's in a very close race to hold onto his senate seat, and his close business ties to China have been revealed. Cuellar, from TX, has been outspoken for over a year.
Kelly makes statements like that then turns around and votes in lockstep with other Democrats. All one has to do is look at his voting record.
Not much longer. Many Hispanics and Blacks have already learned that Democrats have no intention of working for them beyond their elections/re-elections.
If I'm not mistaken, Hispanic voters are the largest minority voting block. Look at what Rep. Mayra Flores accomplished in Texas' 34th District - First Republican in 150 years ... and a LEGAL Mexican immigrant, to boot!
Then, there's the VA governorship, almost NJ, miraculously evicting Chesa Boudin in San Fran, and the pending George Gascon (Los Angeles) eviction.
Blacks and Hispanics have finally realized that the Democrats they typically vote for don't have the same core values they have (family, country, rule of law, faith).
The times, they are a changing.
"I fear that they're being tricked into nationwide bus trips when their final destinations are places all over the United States of America," Bowser told CBS' "Face the Nation."
Didn't Biden trick all those illegals into those middle of the night plane rides?
If they were "tricked", why do videos show many of the illegal aliens hugging and shaking hands with people who greet them when they get off those buses? This video is one of many ...
I guess they didn't think things through when they stopped securing the border. Reality is, these busses are right in line with this administration's flying illegals all over the country.
Only to places where Democrats need votes; or want to cause Republican governors problems.
In this case Gov. Abbott is sending them to the people who caused the problems. I don't see a problem with that. The more uncomfortable the Democrats are they happier the country is.
Northeast NIMBY liberals haven't had to worry about illegal immigration. Until now. The problem of illegal immigration has crept into their backyards so now its a problem. And the preferred solution by these NIMBY liberals is more money from the government. NIMBY liberals are only trying to figure out how to monetize illegal immigrants.
The heck of it is that the government of Mexico really is trying to address the problem. The Mexican government has clamped down on migrant caravans so the caravans disperse pretty quickly. The Mexican government has begun offering incentives for migrants to stay in Mexico, too. Migrants can legally stay in Mexico for at least six months to await entry into the United States. The Mexican government is being overwhelmed. And Mexico is not a rich country so it's not possible to just throw money at the problem unless the Federal government tosses money over the border.
These illegal immigrants are, supposedly, seeking asylum because their place of origin is a shithole. And the Federal government granting asylum is official recognition that their place of origin is a shithole. So, the Federal government knows in detail what is the real problem. Those asylum requests provide intelligence information useful for protecting and securing the United States. Do-nothing Democrats have created an artificial political crisis on the southern border for their own political advantage while ignoring the real problem that the Federal government knows about. NIMBY inner city Democrats haven't had to worry about illegal immigration. Until now.
There's a legal way to seek asylum, and it's not by wading/swimming across the Rio Grande. And, most "asylum seekers" don't qualify anyway. One's country being a shithole or wanting to make more money aren't valid asylum claims.
Yes, there is a legal way to seek asylum. What is overlooked is that the Mexican government really is trying to help with the situation. The Mexican government is being overwhelmed. Illegal immigrants cause problems in Mexico, too. And Biden's 'open border' approach is only making it harder for Mexico. With friends like Biden, Mexico doesn't need enemies.
Democrats are throwing Mexico under the bus to score cheap political points. Maybe Mexico needs to form closer ties with Russia to get some attention.
Here's the latest:
"Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser this past weekend raised concerns about migrants perhaps being "tricked" into being buses from Arizona and Texas to other U.S. states and her city.
"This is a very significant issue," the Democrat mayor said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "We have for sure called on the federal government to work across state lines to prevent people from really being tricked into getting on buses."
She spoke after a recent Washington Post story about homeless shelters in D.C. nearing capacity and support groups getting overwhelmed by the influx.
The Republican governors of Arizona and Texas are behind the bus trips.
Bowser also made clear that a federal grant to a local service group – not taxpayers – is covering the cost of the migrants and that she thinks those bussed to the nation's capital are asylum seekers who are ultimately going elsewhere in the U.S."
Maybe Bowser is right. Once they get a taste of parts of DC, they may choose to live elsewhere.
Washington DC has become a border town and has embraced the "not in my back yard" philosophy
Priceless