Funviralpark Texas Governor Greg Abbott is hitting back at the White House after it criticized him for busing immigrants to Washington, D.C. in freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve.
Officials in DC reported that 139 migrants were dropped off near the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, many lacking proper winter clothing.
detail: Immigrants stopped near Vice President Harris’ home on a frigid Christmas Eve
As White House officials called the move “cruel, dangerous, and shameful,” Abbott’s director of communications, Renae Eze, said the White House could do more to secure the border. I blamed myself for not doing so.
Since April, Abbott has bussed thousands of immigrants to cities with Democratic mayors and governors. Abbott announced on Tuesday that he has now sent 15,900 immigrants to DC, New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia.
More than 8,900 people were dropped off in Washington DC
White House officials condemned the Christmas Eve drop-off, noting that several children were on the bus.
“Governor Abbott left children on the side of the road in freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with federal or local authorities.” This was a cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt. .”
Ez said it was the White House that was to blame.
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“Instead of hypocritical complaints that Texas is providing much-needed relief to runaway and overwhelmed border communities, President Biden and Border Tsar Harris step up and work to secure the border. They keep failing.”
Texas Emergency Management officials say the bus program cost more than $12 million.
Border Patrol agents encountered more than 411,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, according to the latest federal data. That’s a 26% increase from a year ago. Over 100,000 encounters have occurred in El Paso. The city of El Paso has declared a state of emergency to control the sheer number of immigrants coming into the city.
Abbott posted hundreds of National Guard and razor wires along the banks of the Rio Grande to discourage crossings.
Eze said everyone bussed to DC had previously been detained by federal border officials.
“They were processed and released by the federal government. The federal government is dumping them at historic levels in Texas border towns like El Paso. recently declared a state of emergency,” Eze said.
U.S. Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) was “sad and saddened by Abbott’s decision to leave her family on a cold DC street corner without better coordination with local authorities to bring them back to safety. I am disappointed,” he said.
“Good public policy is not produced by the destructive act of throwing fellow humans, in this case immigrants, into the cold without winter clothing on them and their children,” she said. “This seems like the worst example of how we as humans should treat each other,” he wrote on social media.
US Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) was even harsher in his criticism, saying Abbott was worthless for dropping his family off in 15-degree weather.
“Greg Abbott, what a Christian you are.”
Jackson Lee said Texas should work with the federal government to “find a real solution, not a joke. Come on!”
