WASHINGTON: About 50 migrants were dropped off outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ home on Christmas Eve and some didn’t even have adequate winter clothes to stay warm in subzero temperatures. More came on Christmas Day.

The migrants were brought all the way from Texas by the state’s conservative governor to remind the federal government that their immigration laws were not strong enough to prevent immigration. The nearest Texas town is more than 2,200 kilometres from Washington. 

“This latest drop-off was a political stunt by the Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, using people as pawns,” said Amy Fischer, a volunteer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network. 

“People are getting off the buses, they don’t have coats, they don’t have clothes for this kind of weather, and they’re freezing.”

It was minus 14 Celsius in Washington on Christmas Eve.

Ms Fischer said the network has been receiving migrants sent to Washington since the spring and was prepared for Saturday night’s arrival of about 50 migrants. The first bus arrived in April.

CNN reported that Mr Abbott was one of at least three Republican governors who have been sending migrants to Washington to protest the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

Initially, two busloads were taken to shelters in Washington. More buses arrived outside the vice president’s residence later on Saturday evening.

A CNN team saw migrants being dropped off, with some migrants wearing only T-shirts in the freezing weather. They were given blankets and put on another bus that went to a local church.

Another charity group, Sanctuary DMV, warned that “many unhoused folks (were still) sleeping outdoors in this freeze. So, please support our comrades distributing important supplies to our unhoused neighbor.”

Remora House DC, yet another group of volunteers that looks after the homeless, distributed blankets, food, hand warmers, gloves, sleeping bags and tents among the new arrivals. “Keep checking … there’s still risk of hypothermia and frostbite,” it warned.

Texas’s Republican governor, re-elected to a third term in November, is known for his anti-migration views.

Gov. Abbott also criticises the Biden administration for policies that he says have led to the surge of unauthorised migration at the border. “While securing the border is the federal government’s responsibility, Texas will not sit idly by as this crisis grows. Texas is responding with the most robust and comprehensive border plan the nation has ever seen,” the governor said in a post on his official site. 

In November, Governor Abbott raised $400,000 from private donations to help fund his operation to bus migrants to Washington. Texas has already spent more than $20 million on the governor’s plan to transport thousands of migrants to Washington, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. The state has bused more than 13,200 migrants since April.

In New York, a bipartisan City Council coalition has asked the White House to declare a federal emergency because of the asylum-seeker crisis. 

An emergency declaration would free up funding to house, feed and educate migrants. In a letter to President Biden, six Republican and two moderate Democrats, said such “bold steps” are needed immediately to provide essential services to migrants, with no end in sight. 

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2022