“I’m going to take the border to President Biden,” Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced in April, foreshadowing a viable immigration gambit that now has the Left squirming with discomfort.
Republican governors are adopting a new tactic to deal with record illegal crossings of the United States southern border — send the migrants to the doorstep of President Joe Biden himself, and the cities which describe themselves as “sanctuary cities.” So far, 4,000 migrants have arrived in buses from border states to DC, and 2,800 have arrived in New York City. Both these cities describe themselves as sanctuary cities.
Abbott announced the plan in April after Biden rescinded Title 42, which allowed border authorities to turn back migrants for health concerns. Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has employed the tactic as well, and he’s planning to bill the Biden administration for the effort. (RELATED: Migrants Bused To DC Don’t Stay There. Here’s Where They’re Going)
“President Biden will be able to immediately meet the needs of migrants he is allowing to cross our border by busing them to his backyard,” Abbott said in a press release as he announced the arrival of the tenth bus of illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C. “The Biden Administration’s failed efforts to secure the border are appalling. By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., Texas is sending a clear message: we should not have to bear the burden of the federal government’s inaction to secure the border, and the Lone Star State will do whatever it takes to keep Texans safe.”
Texas Governor @GregAbbott_TX carries out his pledge to transport illegal migrants to Washington, DC. The bus pulled up right in front of the building that houses @FoxNews , @NBCNews and @cspan pic.twitter.com/KsrP04LSuw
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) April 13, 2022
Ducey quietly inserted news of his plan into a May press release on another subject.
“With Arizona community resources under all-time demand, and little action or assistance from the federal government, individuals who entered Arizona seeking asylum have the opportunity to voluntarily be transported to Washington, D.C. The transportation will include meals, and onboard staffing and support,” Ducey said.
Texas was sending a half bus load a day in April, but has increased the frequency of the busloads in recent days. Officials say between three and five bus loads of migrants have been arriving each day from the southern border to DC’s Union Station.
Faced with an influx of illegal immigrants straining their city’s resources, the mayors of Washington, D.C, and New York City are turning to the federal government for help. (RELATED: WILCOX: Leftist Elites: Illegal Aliens For Thee, Not For Me)
Most recently, Democratic D.C. Muriel Bowser has requested the national guard be deployed to assist with the migrant crisis in her city.
“The number of people crossing the border seeking asylum we expect to only go up and we need to make sure that there is a national response, not an ad hoc city by city, state by state response,” Bowser said during a press conference.
BREAKING: DC @MayorBowser requests @DCNationalGuard activated indefinitely to help migrant busses arriving in DC. Calling it a “humanitarian crisis” that has reached a “tipping point” with 4,000 migrants so far. Requesting DC Armory be used as processing center. @nbcwashington
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) July 28, 2022
Earlier, Bowser claimed that migrants were being “tricked” into getting on the buses to Washington, D.C.
Democratic New York City Mayor Adams called Abbott and Ducey “cowards” for the plan, but Abbott’s press secretary said Adams should “check with President Biden if his administration is the one dumping migrants in his city, as they’ve been doing to Texas border towns for months.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently weighed in, calling the strategy “shameful.”
“This has come up before, and we believe it’s shameful that some governors are using migrants as a political tool, as a political play,” Jean-Pierre said. (RELATED: Migrants Bused In From Texas Greeted By DC’s Rampant Homelessness)
But Texas Gov. Abbott said Democrat mayors’ frustrations are misplaced.
“Mayor Adams should address his frustration with migrants to the root cause: Joe Biden,” Gov. Abbott said, adding that the migrants coming to New York City are not sent by Texas but rather “President Biden’s open border.”
Border state officials and residents say Democrat mayors shouldn’t complain, and are only getting a taste of their own medicine.
“All I have to say is welcome to my world,” Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The property damage, the damaged fences, the broken water wells, the broken water lines, the theft of the vehicles, the criminal trespass and the burglaries, you name it they’re doing it.”
BORDER REPORT: The first group of migrants I encountered last week in Yuma, AZ were from China, Peru, Georgia, Venezuela, Cuba, and India
Only a few dozen migrants out of the ~1,500 crossing each day into the Yuma border sector are being returned under Title 42 pic.twitter.com/iqdwAX0QKH
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) May 31, 2022
“They don’t have a minute taste of what’s going on down here compared to what’s in Washington, D.C. We couldn’t have that many people up there as what we have down here,” rancher Brad Whitaker said.
Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland said he had seen eight migrant deaths in the last two months due to the border crisis.
“The initial overwhelming starts here, but they’re just seeing a piece of it because they’re going throughout the United States,” Cleveland said.
It will be some time before it becomes obvious if the tactic will effect changes in federal immigration policy. But shipping the crisis at the border to these coastal cities is, at the very least, catching the attention and ire of Democrat officials there.
