Migrants arrived in Washington on Saturday evening (Washington time) after a 36-hour journey,some with little more than a T-shirt or a light blanket,Bahl added. The mutual aid group helped coordinate travel and housing for the migrants and provided food,coats,shoes and other warm clothing to combat temperatures that plunged below 20 degrees (minus 6 Celsius).
The mutual aid group said the buses were sent by the Texas Division of Emergency Management,which follows directives of Governor Greg Abbott’s office. Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
AP reported that Abbott’s office said last week that Texas has given bus rides to more than 15,000 people since April to Washington,New York,Chicago,and Philadelphia.
“They have been doing that for a few months now;it’s all for the spectacle,” Bahl said of the governor’s office. “The cruelty is the point. It’s awful to use people in this manner,for political reasons.”
The three buses appeared to be the latest sent by Republican governors along the southern border to Democratic-led cities,and the scores of migrants were not the first to be dropped off near Harris’ home on the grounds of the Naval Observatory.
Abbott announced the state would begin chartering buses in April,sending a political message to places such as Washington,New York and Chicago and offloading some of the strain caused byrecord levels of immigration.