Washington () — Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public health emergency Thursday in response to thousands of immigrants arriving in the nation’s capital by bus from Arizona and Texas.
Bowser announced at a news conference a new government office tasked with local response to arriving immigrants, which will also support new arrivals seeking asylum.
“We are putting in place a framework that would allow us to have a coordinated response with our partners,” said Bowser, a Democrat. “This will include a program to welcome all buses, and since most people will be moving on, our main focus is to make sure we have a humane, efficient and welcoming process that gets people moving to their final destination.” .
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott began busing immigrants to the nation’s capital in April to protest the Biden administration’s immigration policies. Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, another Republican, have so far sent hundreds of buses to Washington and neither has expressed any intention of stopping.
As of Thursday, the Texas governor’s office had sent more than 7,900 immigrants on more than 190 buses to Washington City, more than 2,200 immigrants on more than 40 buses to New York City, and more than 300 immigrants on more five buses to Chicago.
A state government spreadsheet obtained by through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that as of August 9, Texas paid $12,707,720.92 to Wynne Transportation, the private service that carries migrants to New York and DC.
Arizona, which only sends buses to the nation’s capital, has sent 46 buses with 1,677 migrants.
The new Washington City Office of Migrant Services will be located within the Department of Human Services, Bowser said Thursday, and will provide basic necessities to arriving immigrants, including meals, transportation, urgent medical care and transportation to connect to people with resettlement services.
Washington will allocate $10 million to establish and support the new office, and the mayor said she will seek reimbursement of some of that funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The time-limited emergency declaration gives Bowser and his administration more power and flexibility, meaning officials will be able to mobilize people and resources faster and seek federal financial assistance, he said Thursday. Bowser added that he will send emergency legislation to the Washington Council to codify the new office.
The Washington mayor criticized Abbott and Ducey for their role in creating the “growing humanitarian crisis” but also took aim at the federal response, which she said was “lacking in some respects.”
Last month, the Defense Department for the second time denied Bowser’s request for activate the washington national guard.
The Pentagon, according to a copy of the denial letter reviewed by , said it “would not be appropriate” to use the Washington National Guard and that the Department of Defense “cannot honor its request.”
Bowser reacted to the rejection in a statement on Twitter at the time, saying, “We’re going to move forward with our planning to make sure that when people pass through Washington on their way to their final destination, we have a humane environment for them.”
She echoed that message Thursday, vowing that the nation’s capital “will continue to work with partners to advance what we need and ensure that our systems in Washington are not affected by a crisis that is certainly not our creation.”
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