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This photo taken on December 22, 2022 is of the White House in Washington DC, USA. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
WASHINGTON/HOUSTON, December 26 (Xinhua) — On the coldest Christmas Eve in Washington's history, some 140 migrants were dropped off in front of the residence of US Vice President Kamala Harris.
The migrants, including women and children, reportedly arrived in three buses late Saturday at the Naval Observatory where Harris lives in the US capital.
FREEZING MIGRANT IN WINTER
The arrivals included asylum seekers from various Central American and Caribbean countries. Some of them weren't wearing appropriate winter clothing as Washington, DC was having its coldest Christmas in over two decades.
According to videos circulating on social media, migrants believed to have been sent from the US state of Texas, are given white blankets to keep warm while waiting to be transferred to a local church.
In Washington, DC, an emergency cold weather warning was issued over Christmas weekend due to a historic winter storm, and government officials asked residents to limit their time outdoors and dress warmly.
Amy Fisher, organizer of the American Immigrant Assistance Network, said immigrants "don't have coats" and are "dressed for the weather and the cold."
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Migrant asylum seekers line up at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S., October 9, 2022. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
THE GOVERNOR OF TEXAS BEHIND THE SEMI FREE MOVEMENT
The Fisher Network tweeted on Sunday that it was Texas Governor Greg Abbott who led refugee complainants out of Harris's official residence in the freezing cold.
Abbott was among at least three Republican governors who moved immigrants from their states to Democratic-led cities this year to protest US President Joe Biden's immigration policies and what they called the federal government's inaction to protect its southern border. .
Last month, his office said the Texas government was "taking aggressive steps to help border communities," including bringing thousands of immigrants to Washington, DC, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.
White House press secretary Abdullah Hasan blamed the Abbott administration, calling the bus transportation of migrants a "cruel, dangerous and shameful act".
"Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in sub-zero temperatures on Christmas Eve without permission from any federal or local authorities," Hasan said.
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A bus carrying migrants leaves a US Border Patrol checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, US, October 9, 2022. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
VICTIMS OF US PARTY POLICIES
While a White House spokesman said the federal government was doing what was necessary to address the immigrant problem, state governments such as the Abbott government continued to complain about the government's failure to address the problem.
"We are ready to work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, on real solutions, such as the comprehensive immigration reform and border security measures that President Biden sent to Congress on his first day in office," Hassan said. "But this political game brings nothing, only endangers lives."
Abbott spokeswoman Renée Eze said in a statement Monday that "The White House is filled with a group of hypocrites, led by a known hypocrite, who fly around the country on immigrant planes, often at night."
Eze said: "These immigrants voluntarily choose to travel to Washington, DC by signing a voluntary waiver of consent, available in multiple languages upon boarding and negotiation of destination."
Abbott wrote to Biden last week demanding that his administration "urgently deploy federal resources to resolve major border crises," especially in El Paso, the border city with Mexico.
"This community and state are not prepared to do the job the federal government should be doing: hosting the thousands of immigrants who flood the country every day," the letter said.
"The need to address this crisis is not the duty of a border state like Texas," Abbott wrote, urging the US president to protect national borders and regulate immigration.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is responsible for securing the country's borders, said in a statement Saturday: "Individuals and families who attempt to trespass are deported by court order pursuant to the requirements of public health powers section 42", or be subject to due process. deportation."
DHS refers to policies that have enabled the US Border Patrol to expedite the transfer of migrants and asylum seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court temporarily suspended the expiration of Article 42.
Abbott's office says thousands of people cross Texas illegally every day and the number is expected to increase when Section 42 deportations end.
"Texas needs to take its share of the border debacle caused by the Biden administration," Abbott said in an interview with Fox News.
Biden has previously accused Abbott and other Republican administration officials of "playing political games with the people".
"What they did was wrong," he said at an event in September. "It is inconsiderate and we have processes in place to process migrants at the border."
There are already 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, according to Alejandro Portes, a law professor at the University of Miami, and in the past any attempt at any kind of regularization process has been blocked in Congress by the Republican far right. party. . . various administrations. ■