Migrants from Venezuela, who boarded a bus in Texas, wait to be transported to a local church by volunteers after being dropped off outside the residence of US Vice President Kamala Harris, at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, on September 15, 2022. (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Thursday that he sent two busloads of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence.
His decision comes on the heels of news that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent about 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
The White House reacted on Thursday, calling their decisions “shameful,” “reckless,” and “wrong.”
“This morning, two Texas buses of migrants arrived at the Naval Observatory in DC.
VP Harris claims our border is ‘secure’ & denies the crisis. We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border,” Abbott tweeted.
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He added, “Our supposed Border Czar, VP Harris, has yet to see firsthand the impact of the open border policies she has helped implement. Texas will continue sending migrants to sanctuary cities like D.C. until Biden & Harris do their jobs to secure the border.”
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“On the migrants that are being bused to DC and other cities. There were some that showed up at the VP’s residence earlier this morning. Is the administration looking into whether busing migrants around the country is legal?” Associated Press White House Reporter Darlene Superville asked.
“So let me just say a couple things about this, because– and it’s come up in the briefing room before, because this has been happening for the past several weeks, so as we have said repeatedly, there’s a process in place. We’ve had a process in place. There’s a legal way of doing this and for managing migrants,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Republican governors interfering in that process and using migrants as political pawns is shameful, is reckless, and just plain wrong, and remember, these are people who are fleeing communism, who are fleeing hardship, and if these governors truly care about border security, they should ask Texas Governor Ted Cruz and Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott why they voted against the president’s request for record, record funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
So this is what they have done. These both senators, Senators Marco Rubio, Senator Rick Scott have voted against, did not vote for these, this funding that would have helped the Department of Homeland Security. That is just a fact, and also the fact that Fox News and not the Department of Homeland Security, the city or local NGOs were alerted about a plan to leave migrants, including children on the side of a busy D.C. street makes clear this is just a cruel, premeditated stunt.
This is what they are doing, and a couple more things. The migrants, including children, who arrived in Martha’s Vineyard, were misled about where they were being taken, and what would be provided when they arrived is also deeply alarming. The children Governor Abbott abandoned in Martha’s Vineyard.
The children that Governor DeSantis abandoned as well you know deserve better. They deserve better than being left on the streets of D.C. or being left in Martha’s Vineyard. They deserve a lot better than that, and as we have done many times in response to attempts to create chaos and confusion, by Republican governors. We are working to manage the consequences of these two stunts as well.
When asked whether she’s implying that the way it’s being done now is illegal, the press secretary said, “So I’ll say this. We’ve been asked about if we’re going to take any legal action. I would refer that to the Department of Justice, but there’s a process. There’s a process of taking in migrants. There’s a process in place, and what they are doing is illegal stunt, is a political stunt, and it’s really just disrespectful to humanity.
“It doesn’t afford them any dignity, what they’re doing, when you’re abandoning families and children in a place where they were told they were going to get housing, in a place where they were told they were going to get jobs or abandoning on the D.C. streets. It is just cruel, and it’s not about, it’s not about the process actually. It’s about a political tool, a political stunt that they’re moving forward with,” Jean-Pierre said.
ABC News White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked, “About the situation on the border, crossings are up. Drownings along the border are increasing. We’ve been to one time recently to where the morgue is overwhelmed by migrant deaths. Are you confident, and do you think the situation at the border is under control? Are you doing enough?”
JEAN-PIERRE: What we have been doing is doing the work that wasn’t done by the last administration. We are fixing a broken system. It is not like turning the light switch on. It’s going to take some time, but I’ll say this. More individuals encountered at the border will be removed or expelled this year than in any previous year. That is something of the work that the DHS has been doing and how we have been moving forward and making sure that we’re doing our part here.
We have made– we have made over 3,000 arrests in the first three months of launching an aggressive campaign to combat the multibillion dollar human smuggling industry so we have seen the work that we have done and how it’s been effective, and again, there’s a process in place to manage migration flows. That includes expelling migrants required by court order under Title 42, transferring them to ICE custody, or monitoring migrants through the Alternatives to Detention program as they await further processing, so there is a process in place.
What these Republican governors are doing again is a political– they’re using people, they’re using desperate people who are trying to come here, because they’re fleeing communism themselves as a political pawn, and it’s horrific, and it’s shameful.
BRUCE: The busing aside, how do you explain this influx?
JEAN-PIERRE: Again, we understand that we have work to do. We understand that, and we have been doing the work to do that. We have taken unprecedented action over the past year and a half to secure our border and rebuild a safer and orderly process system. In the last year and a half, we have installed new border technology and set up joint patrols with Mexico and Guatemala to catch more human traffickers.
We have already made 3,000 arrests as I just mentioned. We have secured record levels of funding for the Department of Homeland Security. We have put in place dedicated immigration judges so asylum seekers can have their cases heard faster. We have expanded labor pathways, including H2B visas, so we are doing the work.
We know that, we know that it’s going to take some time, but again we have removed more individuals or encountered more individuals at the border. They will be removed or expelled this year than in any previous year, and so that tells you a little bit about the facts of what we’ve been doing.
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