Pentagon denies plea to help with migrant buses to Washington

US – Migration across the US-Mexican border has reached an all-time high.

On Friday, it was reported that the US Department of Defense had rejected a request by Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for National Guard troops to help process migrants.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that if the troops were sent to assist in the reception of migrants, their readiness could be disrupted.

At a press conference Friday, Mayor Bowser said the city will resubmit a specific request for assistance and continue to work to convert the DC Armory or nearby military bases into migrant processing centers.

She blamed the Republican governors of Arizona and Texas and said they decided to use desperate people to score political points.

About 50 migrants from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Venezuela got off in downtown Manhattan at the Port Authority bus station.

On Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he had begun sending buses full of migrants to New York. It has already sent at least 5,200 migrants to Washington since April.

Governor Abbott said President Biden’s “refusal to acknowledge the crisis caused by his open border policies” had forced Texas to “take unprecedented action to keep our communities safe”.

Conservatives have sharply criticized the immigration policies of US President Joe Biden, Democrat, including his efforts to repeal a pandemic-related executive order that kept most asylum seekers out. New York authorities accuse them of using people as political pawns.

Arizona Government Doug Ducey, also a Republican, has already sent about 1,000 migrants to Washington. The governors report that this is an attempt to reunite families in the US.

On Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called bus travel a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Officials declined to provide financial costs for the bus trips. In June, the Texas television network estimated costs at about $1,400 per traveler.