Two bus loads of illegal immigrants were dropped off near Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington DC, Thursday morning, to send the message that the border is not secure.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent the 101 migrants from Eagle Pass to the Naval Observatory, the official residence of the vice president of the United States.
BREAKING: Two buses of 101 migrants mostly from Venezuela arrive outside @VP Harris house in DC sent by @GregAbbott_TX – one migrant telling me he believes the border is “open” @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/Q70utdE4k0
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) September 15, 2022
During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Harris told host Chuck Todd: ‘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.”
Harris added: “We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration.”
One of the migrants outside the VP residence told Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins that the border is “open” and “everybody believes that the border is open,” in direct conflict with Harris’ absurd declaration.
“It is open because we enter. We come in free, no problem,” the man said. To add insult to injury, he added: “We came illegally, not legally.”
Illegal immigrant to @GriffJenkins: “The border is open…it’s open because we enter, we come in, free — no problem.” pic.twitter.com/vUKf1E6kb3
— Adam Shaw (@AdamShawNY) September 15, 2022
According to Fox News, most of the migrants had travelled from Venezuela, but also included some from Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico.
Gov. Abbott, who has sent hundreds of the migrants to Washington, DC, New York City and Chicago in recent months, took credit for the move on Twitter.
“This morning, two Texas buses of migrants arrived at the Naval Observatory in DC.,” Abbott wrote. “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.”
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. https://t.co/H5n0ChTbIX
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 15, 2022
This comes a day after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent two planes of migrants to the liberal haven Martha’s Vineyard. The governor’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, said the action was “part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.”
Border towns in Texas and Arizona have become overwhelmed by the massive influx of migrants crossing the border illegally.
Gov. Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey have bused approximately 9,400 migrants to D.C. since April, and both have vowed to continue and even expand busing operations indefinitely.
Abbott announced in April that he would charter buses to ship migrants to Washington D.C., where Biden administration officials could take care of them. Ducey began busing migrants from Arizona to D.C. in May, quietly mirroring the Texas program.
Democrat mayors of the targeted “sanctuary cities” have vented in frustration over the Republican governors’ actions.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has slammed the Republican party for their “inhumane” decision to send migrants to Gotham with no warning, and branded Abbott as a “rogue” Governor.
Adams said: “The Republican party they have created a blueprint that all of them are starting to follow. Its inhumane.”
On Wednesday, the NYC mayor complained that shelters in the Big Apple are at “breaking point” after Abbott bused hundreds of people into the city.
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, who has been covering the border all year, noted on Twitter Thursday that the migrants are not “lured” onto the TX buses.
“All of the migrants sign waivers & pick which city they want to go to, & some are happy for the transport,” he explained. “The head of a NGO in Eagle Pass told CNN that migrants go willingly, and they enjoy the “free ride.”
Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has lashed out at the Texas governor by calling his practice of busing migrants to liberal strongholds “racist” and “un-American.”
Lightfoot dealt with the influx of migrants in her neighborhood by moving them to a Republican suburb, the Daily Mail reported.
Of the 147 migrants who arrived last Wednesday, Lightfoot ordered 64 of them to be taken to a Hampton Inn hotel in Burr Ridge, where they will be housed for at least the next 30 days.
Republican Mayor of Burr Ridge, Gary Grasso, directed his anger at Lightfoot and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for using the migrants as ‘political pawns.’
He said: ‘We are very unhappy that nobody from the city, from the state called and told me.’
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser last week declared a public emergency over the buses that have continued to arrive from Texas and Arizona.
At the same time as these new arrivals, humanitarian crisis is deepening in the Texas border town of El Paso.
A humanitarian crisis has unfolded in the Texas border town of El Paso, where nearly 1,000 migrants have been released, and are camping out on the streets.
Congressman Tony Gonzalez, a GOP US Representative, said: “We’ve never seen anything like this. It’s a scene that you would see in a third-world country, not in the streets of El Paso.”
It has led to scenes of misery, with hundreds of migrants sleeping on the streets without access to toilets or showers, and residents say that the ‘smell of human waste is overwhelming in the area.’
The situation in El Paso comes after the Biden administration officially extended special protections for Venezuelans, known as Temporary Protected Status, that shield some of them from deportation.
Migrants in Eagle Pass, 450 miles east along the border, were also reported to have killed a guard dog and begun eating animals in desperation.
Melugin reported on Wednesday that a dead body was found on the border in Eagle Pass. In an update on the dire situation for Fox News, he reported that while embedded with the Texas Department of Public Safety, “troopers pursued a human smuggler and arrested 11 Honduran men hiding in a ranch, some dressed in camouflage,” found nearly 100 illegal immigrants hiding in a “stash house.”
NEW:
– We embedded w/ @TxDPS in Uvalde as troopers pursued a human smuggler & arrested 11 Honduran men hiding in a ranch, some dressed in camouflage.
– El Paso illegal crossings surging.
– Nearly 100 illegal immigrants found stash house.
– Child rapist caught crossing in AZ. pic.twitter.com/fYz0v6ggt6— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 15, 2022
Nearly 200,000 illegal immigrants were intercepted crossing the southern border in July, according to the most recent CBP figures available.
BREAKING: One of the most massive single groups we have ever witnessed cross illegally at the border is crossing into Eagle Pass, TX right now. The line of people went so far into the trees it’s hard to get a count. Hundreds upon hundreds. Coyotes guiding them in water. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/ZjZIygarAv
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 13, 2022