Migrants Arriving By Bus From Texas Border Welcomed By DC Area Leaders

WASHINGTON, DC — Local officials across the Washington, D.C., area are welcoming groups of Latin American migrants and asylum-seekers being bused to the nation’s capital on orders from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

The local officials plan to celebrate family reunification by helping the immigrants find any family members already in the area. The leaders also are calling out Abbott, a Republican up for re-election this fall, for using the migrants and asylum-seekers to protest the Biden administration's immigration policies.

Subscribe

Marc Elrich, Montgomery County executive, said what Abbott is doing is “an abhorrent and mean-spirited political stunt.”

“I am proud to live in a county and a state that would not accept that type of leadership,” Elrich said in a statement Thursday. “Montgomery County is a community that has always welcomed people seeking refuge and seeking a better life. We will always accept those that come here.”

Arlington County plans to collaborate with the Biden administration and nonprofit organizations on making sure the asylum-seekers’ cases are heard and that every migrant is protected.

“Everyone has the right to be safe or flee to keep their families safe,” Katie Cristol, chair of the Arlington County Board, said in a statement. “Seeking asylum is a human right, protected by international human rights covenants.”

Twenty-four migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were transported by bus from the Texas border to D.C., where they were dropped off Wednesday between Union Station and the U.S. Capitol, Abbott's office said.

The migrants had been previously processed and released by federal border officials to continue their asylum cases in the U.S.

READ ALSO: First Bus Of Migrants From Texas Border Reaches DC, Abbott Says

Their arrival in D.C., after a long bus ride paid for by Texas, was a layover in their journey to other places across the U.S. where they have family members or friends, Sister Sharlet Wagner from the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington told CBS News.

Abbott said last week that busing migrants who have been processed and released from federal custody will allow the federal government to "more immediately address the needs of the people they are allowing to come across our border."

"As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the State of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe," Abbott said in a news release Wednesday.

Jeffrey McKay, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said Fairfax County prides itself on being an open and welcoming place where everyone is given the opportunity to thrive, no matter where they come from.

“That openness extends to our immigrant community, whom we warmly welcome to our county,” McKay said. “We will continue to work with our federal, state, and nonprofit partners to provide services and support for our immigrant families.”

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington is providing migrants food and a change of clothing and purchasing bus tickets to their next destinations. Many cannot board trains or airplanes because they lack valid documents.

Wagner told CBS News that she helped 13 migrants on Wednesday morning. "They're arriving very tired and hungry," she said. "So they're looking at another 40-hour bus ride, having arrived with the clothes on their back and no change of clothing."