Texas busses migrants to Kamala Harris’ residence on Christmas Eve : NPR

A number of busloads of migrants had been dropped off on the Washington, D.C., residence of Vice President Kamala Harris on Christmas Eve — apparently the newest in an escalating battle between state officers and the Biden administration over the nation’s immigration coverage.

A complete of three busloads of migrants arrived on the Naval Observatory, the place Harris lives, on Saturday night. The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Assist Community, a neighborhood grassroots group, met the migrants, who had been inadequately dressed for the freezing temperature, in accordance with the station.

Earlier this yr, some state governors started sending buses of migrants to the nation’s capital, after the Biden administration tried to raise a pandemic-era coverage that allow the U.S. deny entry to immigrants.

A minimum of one governor from these states, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, mentioned his state is purposefully busing migrants to sanctuary cities, the place regulation enforcement are discouraged from deporting immigrants.

Amy Fischer, an organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Assist Community, advised NPR’s All Issues Thought-about on Sunday that Abbott’s actions had been “rooted in racism and xenophobia.”

“On the finish of the day, all people who arrived right here final evening was in a position to get free transportation, on a constitution bus, that bought them nearer to their remaining vacation spot,” she mentioned.

In a press release in April, U.S. Customs & Border Safety Commissioner Chris Magnus criticized Abbott’s determination to “transfer migrants with out adequately coordinating with the federal authorities and native border communities.”

Two earlier busloads of migrants arrived at Harris’ residence in September, following an interview through which Harris mentioned the border was safe.

“The border is safe, however we even have a damaged immigration system, notably during the last 4 years earlier than we got here in, and it must be fastened,” Harris advised NBC’s Meet the Press in a Sept. 11 interview.

As of Dec. 22, greater than 8,700 migrants have been bused to Washington, D.C., from the Texas border, and one other mixed have been despatched to six,520 to New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, in accordance with the Texas Governor’s workplace.

“This horrible disaster for border communities in Texas is a disaster of your personal making,” Abbott wrote in a letter to the president on Dec. 20. “These communities and the state are ill-equipped to do the job assigned to the federal authorities – home the 1000’s of migrants flooding into the nation each day. With perilous temperatures shifting into the world, many of those migrants are liable to freezing to demise on metropolis streets.”