White House condemns Abbott’s Christmas Eve migrant stunt as ‘cruel, dangerous and shameful’

Two Republican governors have led campaign to bus migrants to Democratic strongholds

The White House has condemned Texas Governor Greg Abbott for dropping off several busloads of migrants in front of Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence in the dead of night amid sub-freezing temperatures.

The stunt unfolded on one of the coldest Christmas Eves in Washington DC’s recorded history, with temperatures in the high teens and brutal winds making the outdoors a dangerous place for those not properly protected from the weather.

Three busloads of migrants were met outside the Naval Observatory, home to the vice president, by a coalition of local aid groups who provided transportation to nearby churches where the travelers could secure transportation to their intended destinations.

“As we have repeatedly said, we are willing to work with anyone — Republican or Democrat alike — on real solutions, like the comprehensive immigration restructuring and border security measures President Biden sent to Congress on his first day in office, but these political games accomplish nothing and only put lives in danger,” a White House spokesperson told The Washington Post.

One volunteer spoke with CNN and explained that the bus had been originally headed for New York, but diverted to Kamala Harris’s residence due to even worse winter weather across the northeast.

A spokesperson for the Texas governor’s office fired back a response to the White House late Monday evening.

“The White House is full of a bunch of hypocrites, led by the Hypocrite-in-Chief who has been flying planeloads of migrants across the country and oftentimes in the cover of night. These migrants willingly chose to go to Washington, D.C., having signed a voluntary consent waiver available in multiple languages upon boarding that they agreed on the destination,” said Renae Eze.

“[T]hey were processed and released by the federal government, who are dumping them at historic levels in Texas border towns like El Paso, which recently declared a state of emergency because of the Biden-made crisis. Instead of their hypocritical complaints about Texas providing much-needed relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities, President Biden and Border Czar Harris need to step up and do their jobs to secure the border—something they continue failing to do,” Ms Eze continued.

“The continued refusal by the governors to coordinate with local aid groups while the groups of migrants are dropped off in places that are politically significant has drawn the ire of Democratic officials, who accuse the Republicans of playing with people’s lives for political gain. Republicans contend that the busings should continue until the Biden administration does more to tamp down on illegal border crossings.

Illegal border crossings in 2022 surged past the annual record to 2.76m, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection. CBP officials say that a surge in migrants fleeing unrest or economic conditions in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba in September contributed to the jump. The Biden administration began expelling Venezuelan asylum seekers to Mexico in October, which blunted that surge.

Earlier this month a massive surge of migrants crossing the border near El Paso, Texas, caused alarm among border authorities and others in the Department of Homeland Security.

“Over the weekend, the El Paso Sector experienced a major surge in illegal crossings, with a 3-day average of 2,460 daily encounters, primarily through the downtown area of El Paso,” wrote the acting CBP chief for El Paso on Twitter.

The Supreme Court has temporarily stayed the end of Title 42, a controversial public health protocol used by the Trump and Biden administrations to expel large numbers of asylum seekers; conservatives warn that its end will lead to the number of asylum claims and illegal crossings skyrocketing. Its opponents argue that its authority has been abused to go beyond the goal of protecting against communicable diseases.

“If Republicans in Congress are serious about border security, they would ensure that the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security have the resources they need to secure our border and build a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system,” the White House said earlier this month.