Two busloads of migrants from Del Rio, Texas, were dropped off Thursday morning outside the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., where Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff reside.
The buses contained between 75 and 100 people from Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia, and Mexico, according to Fox News.
The move came as a response to VP Harris’ statements earlier this week that the border is “secure.”
“Our supposed Border Czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, has yet to even visit the border to see firsthand the impact of the open border policies she has helped implement, even going so far as to claim the border is ‘secure,’” said Gov. Abbott. “Texas will continue sending migrants to sanctuary cities like Washington, D.C., until President Biden and Border Czar Harris step up and do their jobs to secure the border.”
VP Harris commented on border safety in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
“The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed,” she told host Chuck Todd.
The latest buses from Texas arrived just hours after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed through on a similar promise to send migrants to Democrat-controlled areas, sending two planes full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday.
Carla Bustillos of Sanctuary DMV was in D.C. to assist the migrants sent by Gov. Abbott, telling Fox News her group was “at Union Station since 6 in the morning waiting” and “just heard 20 minutes ago that the drop-off was this one.”
“We’ve already set up a church and a location — a safe location for them to tell us where they need to go next, where they have relatives,” she continued.
The busing program, which offers migrants bus rides after they are processed and released at the border to await an asylum hearing, started with one-way rides to Washington, D.C., in April.
Since then, Abbott has expanded the program to include bus rides to other Democrat-run cities, including New York and Chicago. His office says the program has transported more than 10,000 migrants to the sanctuary cities.
As of August 9, Texas had spent over $12 million in taxpayer dollars to finance the program, according to a state government spreadsheet obtained by CNN through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Democratic leaders of the cities Gov. Abbott has sent migrants to have complained about the influx straining their cities’ services and resources.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a Wednesday statement that the city’s safety net for receiving the migrants “is nearing its breaking point” and that the city might need to reform how it supports those arriving.
“In this new and unforeseen reality, where we expect thousands more to arrive every week going forward, the city’s system is nearing its breaking point,” Adams said. “As a result, the city’s prior practices, which never contemplated the bussing of thousands of people into New York City, must be reassessed.”
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has twice requested that the National Guard be activated to assist with the thousands of migrants arriving in the nation’s capital. However, both requests have been denied by the Pentagon.
Last week, Bowser declared a public health emergency to deal with the migrants and created a new government office to coordinate their arrivals, which will cost an initial $10 million in taxpayer dollars.
Brianne Nadeau, a member of the D.C. City Council, blamed Gov. Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey for the city needing to declare a public emergency.
“So, it’s been said, but it’s worth reiterating, that the governors of Texas and Arizona have created this crisis. And, the federal government has not stepped up to assist the District of Columbia,” Nadeau told reporters Thursday. “So we, along with our regional partners, we’ll do what we’ve always done. We’ll rise to the occasion.”
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 👏 👏
It’s so heartbreaking to see first hand how the state of Texas use immigrants to build this state. Now that they’re overwhelmed with these people because there’s no place to house them. They’re taking every inch of land to build housing for others from Calif. New York and others. Abbott is so disgraceful the it’s a shame.
Maybe you like to have a couple of bus loads at your place. Since Texas has so many. Maybe he should send you a million and let you fed them.
I agree. Isn’t there a law against human trafficking. Abbot and Desantis want to out Trump Trump. But like the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, they may have won the first round, but in the end,I am convinced the Governors of the Mayors of these “sanctuary” cities will come out smelling like a rose and these two clowns will go down in history smelling like the skunks they are!
Oh boohoo crybaby,this administation (Biden, Harris and the other Liberal clowns) don’t care about these Illegal Immegrants or for the citizens of the border states. You snowflakes living on the big rock candy mountain have bred your generation to give at everyone’s expense (except YOURS). This is a NATIONAL problem, not a regional one. Liberals tout they are here to help these illegals until they show up in their towns. Greg Abbott has done more for the State Of Texas, AND the Nation than you finger pointing idiots (BETO included) have done in ALL the DEMOCRATIC administrations combined, all you do is create problems, not solutions. The Clinton’s, Obama’s and Kennedy’s were the disgraceful, shameless drivers of the chaotic liberal administrations that created the most debt, inflation and death to our National Security.
Welcome to Texas, NOW GO HOME !!
I pray every night that Texas will secede from the union to be the Republic of Texas. We don’t owe you anything except for road signs to help you idiots LEAVE !!
Go to the borders and help the unfortunate illegal aliens in their quest for freedom, house and feed them at your home, not mine.
Political grandstanding! Abbott has promised for years to secure the border, he has spent millions upon millions on the national guard, the state troopers, building a Wall and nothing he has done has worked !
Maybe your president should allow Abbott to fix the problem since his border zar has done nothing. Or maybe you would volunteer to take care of a few of them.
Securing the border is the federal government’s responsibility, not the states. Its time Biden does something. This is getting the snowflake’s attention bringing the problem to their own backyard. In this case Abbott is doing a great job!!!
We must refrain from name calling or personal insults, however Brianna Nassau can blame both the governor of Texas and Arizona for doing what her and other Democrat said to do. Give us the immigrants we have safe secure planning. They only received a fraction of what normally comes in and they are already looking for advisement and reaffirmation of there own request? Now we should help all and allow immigrants that are looking for a better life but in a brief moment the other party can’t handle a small amount of people yearning for the American dream. But we should also see what another border state has to say that is democratic. We should see if California feels the same way as D.C. or if they are also struggling like Texas and Arizona.