https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/04/us/migrants-buses-washington-texas.html
WASHINGTON Lever Alejos arrived in the nations capital last week on a
bus with dozens of fellow Venezuelans who had journeyed more than 1,300
miles from their broken country to the United States. Most had braved
poisonous plants and thugs as they trudged through dense jungle on the
Colombian border and waded in water up to their chins to cross the Rio
Grande into Texas, some clutching babies.
After being processed by U.S. border authorities, the undocumented
migrants were released into South Texas, free to go where they wanted. Mr.
Alejos, 28, said he was offered two options: a $50 bus ride to San Antonio
or a free bus ride to Washington, D.C., paid for by the State of Texas. I
wanted San Antonio, but I had run out of money, said Mr. Alejos, who has
no family in the United States. I boarded the bus to Washington.
A few days later, he arrived in the nations capital, among a busload of
weary migrants. He spent the first night in the plaza across from Union
Station but eventually found a bed at Central Union Mission, where he
hopes to stay until he can apply for asylum, get a work permit and find a
job a process that could take months.
A political tactic by the governors of Texas and Arizona to offload the
problems caused by record levels of migration at the border is beginning
to hit home in Washington, as hundreds of undocumented migrants arriving
on the governors free bus rides each week increasingly tax the capitals
ability to provide emergency food and housing.
With no money and no family to receive them, the migrants are overwhelming
immigrant nonprofits and other volunteer groups, with many ending up in
homeless shelters or on park benches. Five buses arrived on a recent day,
spilling young men and families with nowhere to go into the streets near
the Capitol.
Since April, Texas has delivered more than 6,200 migrants to the nations
capital, with Arizona dispatching an additional 1,000 since May. The
influx has prompted Muriel E. Bowser, Washingtons Democratic mayor, to
ask the Defense Department to send the National Guard in. The request has
infuriated organizations that have been assisting the migrants without any
city support.
A vast majority of recent bus riders are Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-
ridden country, and many have also been arriving in New York, often via
Washington. Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, announced emergency
measures on Monday to enable the city to quickly build additional shelter
capacity. The mayor, also a Democrat, said the city had received 4,000
asylum seekers since May, fueling a 10 percent growth in the homeless
population, with about 100 new arrivals each day.
Venezuelans have been showing up daily at the offices of Catholic
Charities of the Archdiocese of New York seeking help. Their primary
concern has been a place to stay, food for their children, said Maryann
Tharappel, who directs the organizations immigrant and refugee services.
The infrastructure in New York is not built for this, she said. We are
not on the border.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, both
Republicans, blame President Biden for record numbers of migrants crossing
the southern border.
Cities along the border in Texas and Arizona have at times been
overwhelmed with a surge in unauthorized border crossings that peaked
under the Biden administration, which has sought to unravel some of the
harsh border restrictions imposed by former President Donald J. Trump.
While thousands of migrants have been swiftly expelled under a pandemic-
related health order known as Title 42, thousands of others are being
allowed into the country to pursue asylum claims because they cannot be
returned to Mexico or their own countries.
State officials in Texas and Arizona have been greeting many of the
migrants after their release from U.S. Border Patrol custody, offering
them free bus rides to Washington in a bid to force the federal government
to take responsibility for what they say is a failed immigration system.
After reaching their destinations, migrants may remain in the country for
months or even years while they fight their deportation cases in court;
they are allowed to work while they pursue asylum claims.
The situation has become acute in recent weeks with the arrival of so many
Venezuelans, who cannot be expelled under Title 42 because Mexico will not
take them and their own government does not have an agreement with the
United States to accept deportation flights. And unlike most migrants from
Mexico and Central America who have family and friends in the United
States, Venezuelans often arrive with no money and nowhere to go.
Border Patrol encountered 110,467 Venezuelans along the southern border in
the first nine months of this fiscal year, compared with 47,408 in the
entire 2021 fiscal year. Overall unauthorized crossings have declined with
the arrival of hot summer temperatures.
Read More About U.S. Immigration
A Billion-Dollar Business: Migrant smuggling on the U.S. southern border
has evolved over the past 10 years into a remunerative operation
controlled by organized crime.
Remain in Mexico Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled that the Biden
administration may rescind a Trump-era program that forces some asylum
seekers arriving at the border to await approval in Mexico.
An Immigration Showdown: Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas authorities to
return migrants they apprehend in the state to the border, a move that may
put the state in conflict with federal enforcement.
Border Patrol Investigation: An extensive review found that four agents
used unnecessary force against Black migrants at the border last year.
The situation has led to back-and-forth accusations with the Democratic
mayors on the East Coast in recent weeks. In the latest salvo, on Monday,
Mr. Abbott sent a letter to the mayors, Mr. Adams and Ms. Bowser, inviting
them to tour the dire situation on the border with Mexico.
Your recent interest in this historic and preventable crisis is a welcome
development especially as the president and his administration have
shown no remorse for their actions nor desire to address the situation
themselves, Mr. Abbott wrote.
Fabien Levy, the New York mayors press secretary, had this statement:
Instead of a photo op at the border, we hope Governor Abbott will focus
his energy and resources on providing support and resources to asylum
seekers in Texas as we have been hard at work doing in New York City.
The Texas governor and the mayors agree on one point: All three are
calling on the federal government to act.
The migrant crisis facing our city and our country through cruel
political gamesmanship from the governors of Texas and Arizona must be
dealt with at a federal level, Ms. Bowser wrote in a letter to White
House officials.
In requesting a processing center at the D.C. Armory and activation of the
National Guard, she said that the number of migrants had reached a
tipping point that had overwhelmed the districts ability to handle
them.
Ms. Bowers request drew rebuke from immigrant advocates who said she had
ignored repeated requests for shelter space, a respite center and
coronavirus rapid testing for the migrants, among other things.
The last thing we want is a militarized response to a humanitarian
crisis, said Andrea Scherff, a core organizer with the Migrant Solidarity
Mutual Aid Network, a coalition of grass-roots groups.
Noting that Washington is a sanctuary city for immigrants, she said, We
should meet housing needs for everyone.
The Biden administration said it had been in touch with Mayor Bowser, but
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said the governors
were using the migrants as a political tool for their own ends.
There is a process in place for managing migrants at the border. This is
not it, she said, adding that the administration was continuing to expel
some migrants, place others in custody and release those eligible to the
care of local nonprofits as they await processing.
About 15 faith and community-based groups in Washington have opened their
doors to the migrants, offering them meals, showers and hygiene items
during daylight hours. But the increase in the frequency of buses, from
two to four a day to now sometimes eight, has depleted donations and
exceeded capacity, and many volunteers have contracted Covid-19, said Ms.
Scherff.
The mayors have been playing into the Republican governors hands, said
Adam Isacson, a scholar at the Washington Office on Latin America who
studies the border.
Of course theyre making noise about the migrant arrivals because those
who need shelter are a strain on their cities social services, he said.
But the tenor of their comments, he said, is giving the governors
ammunition to push for a clampdown on immigration, including such measures
as erecting border walls and eliminating asylum.
On a recent night, migrants climbing down from three buses were greeted by
volunteers and staff from SAMU First Response, an international aid
organization that has received some funding from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency and began operating in Washington in late June.
They were given water, pizza and granola bars, and some were provided
tickets for onward travel. By 1 a.m., most had settled for the night on
the marble floor of the East Hall of Union Station. Others, from earlier
buses, were forced to sleep on the streets. It created an unusual tableau:
unhoused Americans on one side of the plaza; on the other, migrants with
their meager belongings splayed on the ground all within sight of the
Capitol.
Tatiana Laborde, SAMUs managing director, said her organization had
enough funds to buy tickets to other destinations for about a third of the
migrants for whom they were providing services. The groups shelter in
Montgomery County, Md., could not provide long-term housing, she said.
Ten City Council members sent a letter to the Washington mayor urging her
to not just seek federal assistance, but also release contingency funds
and enlist staff members to help migrants, as well as provide Covid
testing, isolation hotels and other resources.
This is a crisis created by Republican leaders in other states, however,
unfortunately its fallen on the mayor to allocate resources locally,
said Brianne Nadeau, the council member who prepared the letter.
Many Venezuelans have said that they made the journey to the United States
because they believed that the countrys doors were open.
On TikTok we saw that people were easily getting into the United States,
said Yennifer Ortiz, who made the trip with her partner, Luis Moreno, and
their 5-year-old daughter, Sofia.
Their trek to the United States lasted 45 days, including nine days
traversing the perilous jungle on the border of Colombia and Panama known
as the Darién Gap, Mr. Moreno said.
By the time they reached Texas, they had no money and were happy to board
a free bus to Washington. They told us that here, there would be people
to receive us and help us, Ms. Ortiz said.
When their bus pulled in around 8 a.m. on a recent day, volunteers
directed them to a respite center run by a church, where they bathed and
received a fresh change of clothes. They spent their first night on park
benches, and since then have been bouncing between the homes of Americans,
they said.
Juan Rojas, 22, said that when he and a friend arrived in Washington, they
were sent to a city shelter housing mainly Americans, where they felt
unwelcome.
The guys were yelling at us, and we couldnt understand a word, he said.
It was clear they didnt want us there. The pair left after two nights
and spent a week sleeping on the streets, he said.
In recent days, Mr. Rojas said, they have been hosted by a woman who
helps migrants some nights and in hotels arranged by volunteers other
nights. He said that he had not yet given up on America after his odyssey.
But he was not optimistic. In Texas, they told us that here, we would get
help with housing, work and everything else we needed, he said. It was
all a lie.
--
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