Washington DC mayor declares public emergency over migrant arrivals

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
8 Sep 2022 19:57

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser declares a public emergency in response to buses of migrants sent in by Republican governors from the border states of Texas and Arizona.

Families and solo migrants at Union Station in D.C. on July 12 (The Washington Post)

The mayor of the United States' capital, Muriel Bowser, declared a state of emergency in the city in response to the arrival of thousands of undocumented migrants bused in from Texas and Arizona.

"I am declaring a public emergency and this public emergency will give my administration the following authority: to establish a migrant services office with DHS [Homeland Security] and direct the department to provide services and supports to migrants arriving from the southern border states," Bowser said during a press conference.

Since April, the governors of Texas and Arizona have bused hundreds of migrants to Washington, DC, according to Bowser, who added that 9,400 migrants have been sent to the city to date.

A week ago, Houston police raised concerns about a trend of migrant children reported missing in Texas City, according to Reuters.

Simultaneously, federal and local officials are reportedly struggling to locate close to a dozen unaccompanied migrant children, the report said.

The grim cases shed the light once again on Biden’s failure to deal with the immigration crisis in the US, most notably as a record number of unaccompanied minors are arriving at the southwest border.

Since Biden took office in January 2021, more than 200,000 non-Mexican minors who cannot be quickly turned around at the border have been caught crossing alone.

At the beginning of Biden’s presidency, an increase in unaccompanied minors overwhelmed Border Patrol stations, trapping children in overcrowded conditions for more than 72 hours.