Shipping busloads of South-of-the-border migrants to Washington D.C., 64-year-old Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and 58-year-old Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey hope to make a point that the southern border is out of control with 79-year-old President Joe Biden’s open-border policy. Whether the policy is more open than former President Donald Trump or not, the same Latin American migrants continue to flood over the Mexican border. Wall or no wall, the immigration flows remain a constant, something 50-year-old D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser or 61-year-old New York Mayor Eric Adams can do nothing about. Abbott and Ducey can’t pass the buck, shipping undocumented migrants to D.C. and New York City, but it doesn’t address longstanding border problems, not something solved by Republicans or Democrats. Dumping migrants in D.C. or New York City other is outrageous.
Bowser asked the Pentagon for National Guard troops to handle the immigrant flows into her city, simply dropping them off at Union Station near the Capitol. Bowser said she asked Biden to approve 150 National Guard troops a day to deal with a growing humanitarian crisis. Whether admitted to or not, there’s nothing Biden can do to stop flows of asylum seekers and migrants crossing illegally into the United States. Bowser wants help but 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin should file in D.C. District Court for injunctive relief against Abbott and Ducey. No state governor, dealing with migration problems, should pass the buck to another state or municipality. Bowser doesn’t know why Austin rejected her request but a crisis exists that must be stopped. Abbott and Ducey have no right to dump their border-related problems on D.C. or NYC or any other state or city..
Whatever Biden did to stop a Trump-era pandemic restrictions on migrant flows into the U.S., the border problems predate the Covid-19 pandemic or any other health crisis. Bowser wanted the White House to find a suitable location to process some 5,200 undocumented immigrants shipped from Texas and another 1,300 from Arizona. Texas and Arizona officials pay Greyhound and other bus companies to ship migrants to D.C. and New York City. No federal judge would allow such and irresponsible practice, knowing that immigrant flows have nothing to do with political parties or federal immigration policies. Bowser said, on reviewing asylum seeks shipped to D.C., that they were duped by Texas and Arizona authorities to take busses back east. Austin should file immediately in D.C. district court for injunctive relief against the states of Texas and Arizona, a cease-and-desist order.
Rejecting her request for National Guard troops, Bowser said the Pentagon was concerned “about the open-ended nature of our request,” not certain how long Texas and Arizona would play their bussing games. “We want to continue to work with the Department of Defense so that they understand our operational needs and to assure that political considerations are not part of their decision,” Bowser said. “We need the National Guard, if we were a state, I would already have done it,” pitching for D.C. to become its own state. But it’s not a state issue to manage the current migrant crisis in D.C.: It’s Texas and Arizona politicizing the immigrant crisis by illegally shipping asylum-seekers to the D.C. and New York. What does D.C. or New York City as municipalities have to do wit the current border crisis? Governors of Southwestern states cannot arbitrarily send migrants to other cities.
Atty., Gen. Merrick Garlands, 68, must step in to file suit in federal court to stop Texas, Arizona or any other state from passing their border problems on to any other city. Abbott thinks it’s perfectly OK to send undocumented migrants to New York City to underscore Biden’s failed border policies. But New York City has nothing to do with federal immigration policies, nor should they be singled out by Abbott, Ducey or anyone else. Adam’s spokesman Fabien Levy tweeted that Abbott’s “continued use of human beings as political paws is disgusting. NYC will continue to welcome asylum seekers w/ open arms, as we have always done but we still need support from D.C.” Bowser and Adams should forcefully seek injunctive relief from the federal courts to stop Abbott and Ducey from shipping off their problems to other cities. Federal immigration authorities must ultimately deal with the crisis.
Abbott and Ducey have no leg to stand on in federal court, shipping illegal immigrants to any other part of the country. “In addition of Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Erick Adams has boasted about with the sanctuary city,” said Abbott. Abbott’s actions are easily challenged in federal court, knowing that no state governor has the right to pass the buck to any other state or city. Abbott and Ducey are completely off-the-wall shipping Latin American migrants to any other state or municipality. Whatever problems exist on the southern border, it’s no up to governors on border states to pass the buck to other governors or mayors. Any federal court would stop Abbott and Ducey in their tracks, they have no valid legal argument for shipping illegal migrants to any other state or city.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
