Several migrants were dumped off of buses near Vice President Kamala Harris’ Washington, DC residence on Christmas Eve. Managing Director Tatiana Laborde of SAMU First Response, a relief agency working in Washington DC, said that about 140 families endured the extremely cold temperature, about 18 degrees, on Saturday evening in Washington, DC after they were dropped off a bus from Texas. Volunteers were waiting for them because they had been warned by an NGO working at the border in Texas.
Some of the arrivals were sent to shelters, and another group was transferred to a local church and given blankets, because some were wearing only T-shirts in the freezing weather.
The migrants are asylum seekers who were supposed to go to New York City but were redirected to Washington, DC because of the weather. The asylum seekers hailed from Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and Ecuador. SAMU First Response has been helping migrants since early this year when buses began arriving in Washington, DC.
Although media reported earlier this year that Texas Governor Greg Abbott had transported buses of migrants north, including to a spot near Harris’ home, it is unclear who was in charge of transporting them to the Naval Observatory, where the Vice President’s apartment is situated.
Immigration activists claimed that the occurrence on Saturday was especially harsh because it took place on Christmas Eve while it was bitterly cold in the nation’s capital. Even the White House administration put the blame on Governor Abbott.
The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network leader, Madhvi Bahl, told NBC News on Saturday that the migrants had arrived, and that the stunt was cruel.
According to a statement from White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan, Governor Abbott was responsible for the abandonment of children on the side of the road in the freezing weather on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any federal or local authorities.
At least three Republican governors, including Abbott, have claimed responsibility for transporting migrants by bus or air to the north this year in opposition to the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
Amy Fischer, a volunteer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, has been working with migrants arriving in Washington, DC for months.
“The DC community has been welcoming buses from Texas anytime they’ve come since April. Christmas Eve and freezing cold weather is no different,” Fischer said. “We are always here welcoming folks with open arms.”