On “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Texas Republican Congressman Chip Roy does an apparent U-turn.
NEW Fox News articles can now be heard on audio! The mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, has called for the deployment of the National Guard and described the influx of migrants as a “humanitarian crisis.” There are reports that White House officials are upset by her remarks, but the White House insists that it has had “constructive conversations” with her.
Bowser and Mayor of New York City Eric Adams have been raising concerns about the influx of thousands of undocumented residents into their cities, some of whom have been transported there by bus from Texas, which they claim is putting a strain on their social safety nets.
With people traveling across the country in search of asylum, Bowser said last week, “we are committed and we continue to be extremely focused on having the federal government do its part and take the lead in what we perceive as a developing humanitarian issue.”
In addition, Bowser announced that D.C. had received a $1 million grant from FEMA to set up a “respite center” for migrants arriving in the nation’s capital. She also requested that the D.C. Armory serve as a processing facility and that the National Guard be called upon to assist migrants as they arrive on buses.
On April 27, 2022, in Washington, D.C., migrants holding Red Cross blankets arrived from Texas by buses at Union Station, close to the U.S. Capitol. (Jose Luis Magana, File/AP Photo)
Before adding that she anticipates the problem to “escalate,” she stated, “I’ve also requested the Secretary of the Army to send the D.C. National Guard to help lead that effort.”
We anticipate an increase in the number of asylum seekers crossing the border, so a coordinated national response is required, she said.
According to Reuters, there have been issues with the White House as a result of the statements. Her use of the word “crisis,” which the government has avoided when characterizing the border, had been disputed by officials, who also deemed her request superfluous.
“We have had fruitful meetings with Mayor Bowser and her team, and are dedicated to working with her and her team just as we do effectively with other local leaders,” a White House official told Fox News Digital.
Republican governors using needy immigrants as political pawns is reprehensible and disgraceful, as we have consistently stated, the official said.
The remarks are a repeat of those made by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre last week, who likewise sought to attribute the predicament in the two Democrat-controlled cities to Republicans.
At a press conference, she told reporters, “There is a protocol in place for managing migrants at the border; this is not it what they’re doing today. “That entails deporting immigrants in accordance with a court order issued under Title 42, detaining them in ICE custody, or leaving them in the care of neighborhood NGOs while they wait to be processed. Therefore, what Republicans are doing, including their interference in the process and use of immigrants as a pawn in political games, is just wrong.”
The few thousand migrants that D.C. and New York are dealing with pale in contrast to the hundreds of thousands of migrants border states are dealing with every month, Republican authorities along the border had reacted angrily to the censure emanating from Washington D.C.
“Thanks to President Biden’s open border policies, Washington D.C. suddenly understands what Texans have been dealing with on a daily basis as our neighborhoods are overrun and overwhelmed by thousands of illegal immigrants,”
Texas Governor Greg
Declared Abbott’s office in a statement.
Mark Brnovich, the attorney general of Arizona, called Bowsers’ remarks “the height of hypocrisy.”
He told Fox News Digital, “Shame on all the liberal mayors who did nothing and said nothing while we witnessed a record number of people entering our country illegally and while we saw a record number of fentanyl and other drugs flowing into our country. They either didn’t care or ignored it up until their front door was practically at it.
Adam Shaw covers immigration for Fox News Digital as a politics correspondent. You can contact him via email or on Twitter at @AdamShawNY.
