White Home Condemns Greg Abbott Over But One other Migrant Stunt

The White Home on Sunday blamed Texas Governor Greg Abbott for sending greater than 100 migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ house on Christmas Eve—the coldest that Washington DC has skilled in a long time. “Governor Abbott deserted youngsters on the facet of the street in under freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve with out coordinating with any Federal or native authorities,” White Home spokesperson Abdullah Hasan stated in an announcement, per CNN, calling it “a merciless, harmful, and shameful stunt.” Hasan reiterated the administration’s willingness to work with each events on points corresponding to immigration reform and border safety, including that Abbott’s “political video games accomplish nothing and solely put lives in peril.”

Late Saturday night time, buses filled with migrant households arrived exterior the Naval Observatory, the place the vice chairman’s house is situated, from Texas. “Volunteers scrambled to fulfill the asylum seekers after the buses, which had been scheduled to reach in New York on Christmas Day, had been rerouted as a result of winter climate,” the Washington Submit reported. Reduction businesses SAMU First Response and the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Assist Community had been on the bottom Saturday night to assist with the arrivals, offering blankets to the migrants—a few of whom had been “carrying solely T-shirts within the freezing climate,” in response to CNN—and transporting them to a neighborhood church the place they got meals and different sources. 

Texas authorities haven’t confirmed Abbott’s involvement within the bus drop-offs, and a number of retailers reported Sunday morning that the governor’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark. The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Assist Community “stated the buses had been despatched by the Texas Division of Emergency Administration, which follows the directive of Gov. Greg Abbott’s workplace,” in response to the New York Occasions. It wouldn’t be the primary time that Abbott has despatched migrants to Harris’ yard: In September, he transported 50 migrants to DC, calling on the Biden administration to “do its job & safe the border.” Different Republican leaders have additionally embraced such ways, together with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who earlier this yr despatched two planes of migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Winery—a stunt which reportedly costed greater than $600,000.