x
Breaking News
More () »

3rd bus from Texas drops asylum seekers off outside the Vice President's residence

An estimated 50 migrants were on board the bus that arrived Saturday morning; the majority are asylum seekers from Venezuela.

WASHINGTON — A third bus from Texas arrived Saturday morning and dropped off migrants in front of the U.S. Naval Observatory grounds where Vice President Kamala Harris resides.

An estimated 50 asylum seekers were on board and according to Tatiana Laborde, the Response Director for the group SAMU, the majority are from Venezuela.

"A lot of children, there's a one-month-old baby on the bus," said Laborde, whose group is helping with the intake of migrants in the nation's capital. She says the majority of migrants had other final destinations and that a small number would stay in D.C.

Thursday morning, at least 100 migrants were stranded in Northwest D.C. after two buses dropped them off outside the Naval Observatory. The groups that have been receiving the asylum seekers in D.C. were caught off guard by the new location drop off.

In a statement tweeted out by Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said, "VP Harris, has yet to see the firsthand impact of the open border policies she has helped implement."

Since April, buses from Arizona and Texas have been arriving in the nation's capital but have been dropping off migrants at the transit center Union Station.

Advocate groups told WUSA9 that they believe buses will continue dropping asylum seekers outside the Vice President's residence. They will be focusing their efforts in the Northwest location so that the migrants are not left stranded as they were on Thursday morning. 

During a Friday event with the Texas Asian Republican Club, Abbott doubled down on his state-funded program to bus migrants across the country saying, "We will continue busing migrants to Washington D.C., to New York, until President Biden does his job and secure our border."

Abbott has used over $12 million in state funds to finance the migrant bussing program, according to the state's division of emergency management. 

As of Friday, Texas and Arizona had sent at least 295 buses with approximately 13,000 migrants to D.C., New York, and Chicago, according to numbers provided by the state representatives. 

D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser has declared a public emergency following concerns about the District's ability to accommodate the arrival of migrants. 

On Tuesday, the D.C. Council is set to vote on an emergency bill that would allow the for the creation of the Office of Migrant Services. The $10 million office under the Department of Human Services will assist in receiving migrants with support like food, temporary shelter, healthcare, and resettlement. 

Watch Next: As DC Council prepares to consider migrant bill, some groups push back

    

    


Before You Leave, Check This Out