WASHINGTON — A network of advocacy groups is urging the D.C. government to open emergency shelters as Texas and Arizona prepare to ramp up migrant busing with Title 42 set to expire on Thursday.
The end of the pandemic-era policy that allows immigration officials to turn back migrants at the Southern Border will likely spur a drastic increase in the number of migrants trying to cross into the U.S.
"We are clear eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead," said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas during a Wednesday news conference.
This week, Republican Govs. Katie Hobbs of Arizona and Greg Abbott of Texas pledged to continue busing asylum seekers to democratic ran cities as they have been since April of 2022.
Outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued an emergency declaration on Tuesday allowing emergency funds to be moved to address the increased arrival of migrants since last month.
Washington, D.C. has started turning away new migrant families at their migrant shelters that reached capacity Apr. 26. During a Monday news conference Mayor Muriel Bowser said immigrant advocates have been "inviting" asylum seekers to "stay with them" in the District.
"We are telling those advocates as well, we have limited space; and we hit those numbers in the last week for limitations in the District," said Bowser.
Migrant families that are being lodged in the Northeast DC hotel told WUSA9 that people have been moving out, and rooms are empty, but have been told new families are not moving in.
Mayor Bowser's Office and D.C.'s Department of Health and Human Services declined to provide data of the number of migrants being housed in the shelters, and why they are being turned away.
"I was expecting some help, some support to just have a better quality of life, and to have a better life for my daughter that I brought from Venezuela," said Henjelberet who is among the people that have been turned away. He says he has had to sleep in a borrowed car with his 11-year-old daughter until they find a place to sleep.
The Mutual Solidarity Aid Migrant Network (MSAMN) says the Mayor's Office of Migrant Services (OMS) needs to focus on transitioning migrant families from temporary shelter in hotels to long-term housing.
"The reason they are at capacity, is in part because the number of folks coming from the border," said Madhvi Bahl, a core volunteer with Mutual Solidarity Aid Network. "But the other part is that they have not invested in helping people move out," she added.
On average people housed in the District's temporary shelters are staying 126 nights, according to numbers provided by OMS on Apr. 14.
"We need to open an emergency shelter," Bahl told WUSA9. She says the network, who has been on the ground since the arrival of the first buses, is concerned the number of unhoused migrants will increase in the upcoming days and weeks.
"It's just not a serious position to take to just be like people are going to sleep outside because federal government is responsible for immigration not us," Bahl added.
Mayor Muriel Bowser's Office declined to comment on any changes in their plans to address the arrival of more migrant buses, and whether they have reached out to other local jurisdictions for help.
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