Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

2 days ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

2 days ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

3 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

3 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

3 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

3 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

3 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

3 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

3 days ago
Migrant Buses Dropped off by Texas Near VP Harris' Residence
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
September 16, 2022

Share

 

Two buses of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border were dropped off near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in residential Washington on Thursday morning in the bitter political battle over the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been busing migrants out of Texas to cities with Democratic mayors as part of a political strategy this year because he says there are too many arrivals over the border to his state. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey also has adopted this policy, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also got in on the act recently. It was first dreamed up by former President Donald Trump.

Abbott tweeted that he’d sent the buses that arrived Thursday: “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border.”

About two dozen men and women stood outside the U.S. Naval Observatory at dawn, clutching clear plastic bags of their belongings carried with them over the border, before moving to a nearby church. Harris’ office had no immediate comment.

The steady flow of migrant buses has caused a scramble in Washington, with Mayor Muriel Bowser calling for federal intervention and a coalition of NGOs forming to handle the new arrivals, backed by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

This coalition has become accustomed to wildly divergent levels of coordination between the Texas and Arizona buses.

Tatiana Laborde, managing director of the international relief agency SAMU First Response, said the buses from Arizona come with detailed manifests of passengers and their nationalities, coordination on arrival times and medical personnel aboard each bus.

“They don’t want to just dump people here,” Laborde told The Associated Press last month.

In contrast, she said, the Texas buses arrived chaotically. They only hear from charitable groups on the Texas end that a bus carrying a certain number of people has departed. At some point about 48 hours later, that bus drops off riders at Washington’s Union Station.

Thursday morning’s surprise drop-off outside Harris’ residence suggests governors like Abbott were looking for creative new ways to make their political point — with the District of Columbia as the playing field.

Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, called the move “inhumane” and accused Abbott of “using human beings, babies, families, as political pinatas”

Speaking to reporters outside Harris’ residence, Garcia said the two busloads of migrants from Texas were “dumped like human garbage” in Washington on Thursday. He also said many of the migrants were being “tricked into signing these releases,” – something both the Texas and Arizona governments have denied.

He also called for both Republican and Democratic politicians to come together around, “a bipartisan solution to fixing our broken immigration system. I agree that it’s broken.”

After migrants seeking asylum cross the U.S.-Mexico border, they spend time in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility along the border until they are generally released into the U.S. to wait out their cases. Republicans say Biden’s policies encourage migrants to vanish into the U.S.; Democrats argue the Trump-era policy of forcing migrants to wait out their asylum cases in Mexico was inhumane.

DeSantis flew two planes of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday. And last week, Abbott sent about 75 migrants to Chicago.

Bowser has requested a National Guard deployment but was rejected by the Pentagon; the deployment was opposed by the NGOs, who called it an unnecessary militarization of a humanitarian issue.

Last week, Bowser declared a limited state of public emergency over the migrant issue and proposed forming a new Office of Migrant Services with $10 million in funding. The proposal comes before the D.C. Council next week.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

DON'T MISS

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

US Military Says 200 Marines Being Sent to Support ICE in Florida

UP NEXT

US Judge Blocks Trump Asylum Ban at US-Mexico Border, Says He Exceeded Authority

UP NEXT

Trump Pulls Back 150 Guard Troops From Federal Duties in California

UP NEXT

California Republicans Send Message to Trump: Deport Criminals, Not Our Vital Workers

UP NEXT

Homeland Security Secretary Noem Says CNN May Be Prosecuted Over Report on Migration App

UP NEXT

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Sues Los Angeles Over Immigration Enforcement

UP NEXT

Catholic Bishops Try to Rally Opposition to Trump’s Immigration Agenda

UP NEXT

CA’s Population Shrank in Trump’s First Immigration Crackdown. It Could Happen Again

UP NEXT

In Win for Trump, US Supreme Court Limits Judges’ Power to Block Birthright Citizenship Order

Trump Calls Musk’s Formation of New Party “Ridiculous” and Confusing

26 minutes ago

Fresno DUI Driver Slams Into CHP Motorcycle, Tow Truck on Highway 99

7 hours ago

Russia Downs 120 Ukrainian Drones Overnight, Defense Ministry Says

7 hours ago

Israel Sends Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Talks Ahead of Netanyahu Trip to US

7 hours ago

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Grows to Nearly 80,000 Acres, 30% Contained

7 hours ago

Musk Announces Forming of ‘America Party’ in Further Break From Trump

7 hours ago

Death Toll From Texas Floods Reaches 59, Including 21 Children

7 hours ago

California’s Politics Drifts Right While New York’s Leans Left

8 hours ago

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

1 day ago

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

1 day ago

TikTok Building New Version of App Ahead of Expected US Sale, the Information Reports

TikTok is building a new version of its app for users in the United States ahead of a planned sale of the app to a group of investors, The I...

16 minutes ago

A logo is displayed over a door at the U.S. headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, U.S. January 17, 2025. (Reuters File)
16 minutes ago

TikTok Building New Version of App Ahead of Expected US Sale, the Information Reports

Boxes of aid are stacked as Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it has commenced operations to begin distribution of aid, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 26, 2025. (Reuters File)
17 minutes ago

Hamas Government Office Rejects US Accusation of Involvement in Gaza Aid Site Attack

A volunteer searches for flood victims after deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, U.S., July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Sergio Flores
20 minutes ago

Death Toll From Texas Floods Reaches 78, Trump Plans Visit

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk listens as US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC, U.S. on November 13, 2024. (Reuters File)
26 minutes ago

Trump Calls Musk’s Formation of New Party “Ridiculous” and Confusing

A 22-year-old suspected DUI driver crashed into a parked CHP motorcycle and tow truck on Highway 99 near Fresno, narrowly missing an officer and bystanders, CHP said Saturday, July 5, 2025. (CHP)
7 hours ago

Fresno DUI Driver Slams Into CHP Motorcycle, Tow Truck on Highway 99

A service member of a drone unit of the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo of the Ukrainian Armed Forces controls a heavy combat drone while it flies over positions of Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk Region, Ukraine June 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
7 hours ago

Russia Downs 120 Ukrainian Drones Overnight, Defense Ministry Says

An Israeli tank maneuvers in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 6, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
7 hours ago

Israel Sends Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Talks Ahead of Netanyahu Trip to US

The Madre Fire near New Cuyama has burned nearly 80,000 acres as of Sunday, July 6, 2025, morning, prompting widespread evacuation orders and warnings across three counties. (CalFire)
7 hours ago

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Grows to Nearly 80,000 Acres, 30% Contained

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend