On Saturday evening, three busloads of migrants from the southern U.S. border were reportedly bused to Vice President (and former California Senator) Kamala Harris’ home in Washington, DC, according to the New York Times.
As one of the coldest Christmas Eves on record drew to a close, the buses containing approximately 130 immigrants arrived on the grounds of the Naval Observatory, which is where the vice president and her family reside, the Times reported.
The third and final bus of migrants of the night of migrants buses up to D.C. from Texas arriving, with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network taking them to a church: pic.twitter.com/Y65B8RnilZ
— Christian Flores (@CFloresNews) December 25, 2022
According to the Times, local volunteers including Madhvi Bahl, an organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, told the newspaper that they expected the buses to arrive in New York on Christmas Day. However, the buses were reportedly redirected to the nation’s capitol because the past few days of extreme weather had led to road closures along the route.
According to NPR, state governors such as Texas’ Greg Abbott have been directing buses of migrants to DC and New York in the past year to try to send some pointed political messages and score some political points. He’s done it before — two buses of migrants had reportedly showed up at Harris’ residence in September from Texas, the Texas Tribune reported — and he’s likely to do it again.
This time, NPR reported that Abbott is mad about how Biden’s administration has sought to lift the controversial pandemic-era policy that allowed the federal government to deny entry to immigrants, known as Title 42. Abbott had said in the past that his state is purposefully busing migrants to “sanctuary cities.”
NPR reported that many of the migrants dropped off in below-freezing temperatures only had on the t-shirts on their backs and/or light blankets. Still, mutual aid groups reportedly met the buses with food, coats, and shoes, as well as helped coordinate housing and further travel, according to the network.
“Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any Federal or local authorities,” White House assistant press secretary Abdullah Hasan reportedly said in a statement, according to the New York Times. “This was a cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt.”
Governor Abbott claims to be a “pro-life Christian” yet shows no regard for the lives of children left shivering in the freezing cold on Christmas Eve.
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) December 25, 2022
Dropping off migrants in 18 degree weather is so cruel that it ought to be criminal.
This comes as a judge had ordered Title 42 to lift on Wednesday; however, then, last week, the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice Roberts temporarily stopped its expiration after 19 mostly Republican-led states filed an appeal to continue it.
Image via Wikimedia/Kamala Harris.
