Backfire: Mayor of Sanctuary City Panics, Calls National Guard as Thousands of Immigrants Take Advantage of Offer
While the Biden administration continues ignoring the border crisis in southwestern states, the nation’s capital is starting to understand how illegal immigration can affect a city’s resources and infrastructure.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser recently requested the activation of the D.C. National Guard to handle the growing number of migrants traveling to the capital each day. The request also asked permission for re-purposing the D.C. Armory as a processing center until the influx considerably declines.
Since April, over 150 buses from Texas and Arizona have transported 4,000 migrants to the nation’s capital, turning it into a sanctuary city, the Washington Examiner reported.
BREAKING: DC @MayorBowser requests @DCNationalGuard activated indefinitely to help migrant busses arriving in DC. Calling it a “humanitarian crisis” that has reached a “tipping point” with 4,000 migrants so far. Requesting DC Armory be used as processing center. @nbcwashington
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) July 28, 2022
Bowser and the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management first wrote a letter to the Office of the Secretary of Defense on July 19, and the mayor sent another to President Joe Biden on July 22 requesting help. Neither has received a reply.
9 days since @MayorBowser requested @SecDef @ @POTUS activate @DCNationalGuard DC has received no answer. @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/Ndwvh7MoMh
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) July 28, 2022
“The pace of arriving buses and the volume of arrivals have reached tipping points,” the first letter read. “Our collective response and service efforts have now become overwhelmed. … Tragically, many families arrive in Washington, DC with nowhere to go, or they remain in limbo seeking onward destinations across the United States.”
Bowser rightfully requested help for the city’s “prolonged humanitarian crisis,” which first began in mid-April.
However, the “humanitarian crisis” at the southern border has continued for several years, which is why Texas and Arizona decided to give D.C. politicians a taste of their own medicine.
In the past three months, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey pledged to transport illegal migrants to the nation’s capital in order to force Biden’s hand in securing the border.
“Washington, D.C. finally understands what Texans have been dealing with every single day, as our communities are overrun and overwhelmed by thousands of illegal immigrants thanks to President Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze wrote to the Examiner.
“If the mayor wants a solution to this crisis, she should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border — something he has failed to do.”
Bowser was not amused with the Republicans’ “cruel political gamesmanship.”
“Instead of rolling up their sleeves and working with the Biden/Harris administration on a real solution, Governors Abbott and Ducey have decided to use desperate people to score political points,” Bowser wrote in the second letter to the White House.
The mayor asked for 150 National Guard personnel to help immigrants by facilitating “eventual movement to their final destinations,” claiming that D.C. is not where they intended to travel or stay.
“This mission would begin as soon as possible and continue indefinitely until the city relieves them,” she wrote.
“To be clear, I recognize the magnitude of this request. But the Governors of Texas and Arizona are making a political statement to the federal government, and instead, their actions are having direct impacts on city and regional resources in ways that are unsustainable.”
Bowser also called immigration a federal issue, admitting that the federal government must provide “immediate federal assistance” to both the capital and the border.
But why did it take her so long to ask for help if D.C.’s “humanitarian crisis” continued for the past three months? Maybe she was handling the situation on her own with her city’s resources, or maybe it was ego. Whatever it was, she needed to take immediate action in either solving it or requesting the National Guard.
The fact Bowser waited this long showed she refused to admit defeat to Abbott and Ducey for being right about the immigration crisis — and that the Biden administration needs to act in protecting the American border.
The partisan differences proved to be more concerning for her than providing support for the capital in a time of crisis.
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