Three busses carrying between 110 and 130 migrants arrived outside the Naval Observatory, the vice president’s official residence in Washington, DC, on Saturday night, where they were met by a local charity and shuttled to a temporary shelter at a nearby church.
A representative of SAMU First Response acknowledged that the relief agency had been expecting the arrivals and was ready to move the families out of the cold, while a local restaurant chain donated dinner and breakfast.
Accusing Texas authorities of abandoning people on the “coldest Christmas Eve on record for Washington,” local media shared unsettling videos of families with children, wrapped in blankets, reloading their belongings to other buses. SAMU’s Tatiana Labord said most of the arrivals were expected to remain in Washington only briefly as they are headed to “other destinations.”
Texas authorities have neither confirmed nor denied their involvement so far, but Democrats immediately accused Governor Greg Abbott, arguing that the stunt was “in line” with his and other Republican governors’ previous actions.
“Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any Federal or local authorities,” White House assistant press secretary Abdullah Hasan said in a statement, calling it a “cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt.”
Abbott's office said last week that Texas has shuttled more than 15,000 migrants to “sanctuary” cities like Washington, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia since April. It would not be the first time Abbott has sent buses full of newly arrived migrants to the DC doorstep of Vice President Kamala Harris, who has visited the border only once since the Biden administration tasked her with handling the crisis there last year.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also shipped illegal immigrants to upscale locations in the past. In September he sent two planes loaded with migrants to the island enclave of Martha’s Vineyard, home to the Obamas and other political heavyweights. He has long called for federal funds to pay for the relocation of illegal immigrants whom he claimed the federal government had shipped to Florida without advance notice or the permission of state authorities.