Busloads of immigrants landed in front of the home of US Vice President Harris

Migrant aid groups said Sunday that more than 100 migrants were disembarked near the home of US Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington during the Christmas holidays, as the White House criticized Texas for sending the migrants.

Approximately 110-130 immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, many of them families with children, have been put on buses by Texas officials, said Tatiana Laborde, managing director of SAMU First Response, an aid agency working with the city of Washington. Capital

By phone, she said aid groups have been notified of their flight and are waiting for them to arrive late Saturday to distribute blankets and then take them to a church in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Aides to Texas Governor Greg Abbott were not available to comment on whether the state coordinated their transfer.

The Republican governor, who is a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policies, and some other Republican governors have been moving immigrants to Democratic-controlled cities in the northern United States.

Texas has moved thousands of immigrants to Washington, New York and Chicago, in what some critics have called a stunt amid a national debate about high levels of immigrant arrivals along the US southern border.

Laborde said that in the past week, 9 busloads of immigrants have been dropped off in Washington.

“Recently, what we’re seeing is an increase in people from Ecuador and Colombia,” Laborde said. She added that many Venezuelans had previously arrived by bus.

Laborde said many of the newcomers are now trying to go to New York or New Jersey where they have relatives or other community support.

The White House criticizes Texas

Meanwhile, the White House on Monday accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of endangering the lives of immigrants after busloads of immigrants on a cold Christmas Eve.

Republican Abbott, a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policies, did not acknowledge the Christmas Eve backtracking and his office has not claimed responsibility.

“Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in sub-zero temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any federal or local authorities,” White House spokesman Abdullah Hassan said in a statement.

“Political games achieve nothing and only endanger lives,” Hassan added.

Hassan said the Biden administration is ready to work with Democrats and Republicans to find solutions to the immigrant issue.

Amy Fisher, an organizer with the Mutual Aid Immigrant Solidarity Network, told NPR that the immigrants were immediately transferred to city-provided buses in Washington and moved to a church that was distributing hot food and clothing.

Claudia Tristan, a co-organizer with the same group, told Reuters on Monday that almost all of the migrants who dropped off near the vice president’s home were already on their way to relatives and friends in the United States.

In a letter to Biden on Dec. 20, Abbott said the state is saddled with thousands of men, women and children who cross into Texas each day and who risk freezing to death on the city streets.

Hidalgo County, Texas, Judge Richard Cortez Monday told CNN that local areas in Texas like his are overwhelmed with immigrants and cannot accommodate them all.

“Somehow getting immigrants out of this area helps us … but it’s not a solution to the problem,” said Cortez, whose province borders Mexico.