Two buses filled with illegal immigrants were bused from Texas and dropped off near Vice President Kamala Harris’s home in Washington, D.C., on Thursday morning, according to video footage and the Texas governor.
The two buses filled with dozens of people arrived at the U.S. Naval Observatory, which is the vice president’s residence, local media photos show.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on Twitter to confirm that two of the buses were sent to Harris’s residence. They were sent, he said, in response to recent comments made by the vice president, who was tapped by President Joe Biden to oversee U.S. border security last year, that there is no crisis.
“VP Harris claims our border is ‘secure’ [and] denies the crisis,” Abbott wrote Thursday. “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job [and] secure the border.”
Video footage taken from the scene showed throngs of men, women, and children carrying items—including pillows, blankets, and clothing—outside the gates of Harris’s official residence.
Marla Bustillos of Sanctuary DMV told Fox News on Thursday that they were “at Union Station since 6 in the morning waiting” and “just heard 20 minutes ago that the drop-off was this one.”
“We’ve already set up a church and a location—a safe location for them to tell us where they need to go next, where they have relatives,” she continued, adding that the media “knew the location before we did.”
Emergency Declared
For months, Abbott’s administration has sent dozens of buses filled with people who illegally crossed the U.S.–Mexico border to New York City, Chicago, and Washington. Arguing that Texas border towns are inundated and overwhelmed by the significant uptick in illegal immigration, the governor said that policymakers in those Democrat-run cities and states should face the realities of the immigration rules they support.
The Republican governor also said those areas are self-proclaimed “sanctuary cities,” meaning they won’t comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, and they are a more suitable location for illegal aliens than Texas.
The mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, declared an emergency on Sept. 8 over the surge of illegal immigrants. On Wednesday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an emergency disaster order and deployed the National Guard.
Bowser, Pritzker, and other Democrats have criticized Abbott over the move and are reluctant to blame the Biden administration’s policies for the uptick in illegal immigration. A report released last month revealed that nearly 5 million people crossed into the United States illegally during the first 18 months of President Joe Biden’s presidency.
On two separate occasions in recent days, Bowser has requested the National Guard to be activated in the nation’s capital. The Department of Defense in late August denied one of her requests.
Again, a top Democrat official this week blamed Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, both Republicans, for busing the illegal immigrants to Washington.
Brianne Nadeau, a member of the Council of the District of Columbia, said “that the governors of Texas and Arizona have created this crisis,” without mentioning federal immigration policies.
“The federal government has not stepped up to assist the District of Columbia,” she added to reporters. “So we, along with our regional partners, we’ll do what we’ve always done. We’ll rise to the occasion.”
The Epoch Times has contacted both Abbott’s office and the White House for comment.
From The Epoch Times