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The governor of Texas sends thousands of immigrants to Washington and New York to pressure the White House

2022-08-08T19:13:37.130Z


New York Mayor Adams, who promised to make the city a refuge, denounces the saturation of shelters due to the influx of foreigners, mostly Latin Americans


Temporary shelter to which migrants from Texas were sent, on Friday in the Bronx (New York). ANDREW KELLY (REUTERS)

After filling the streets of Washington with irregular migrants, the governor of Texas, the Republican Greg Abbott, has diverted the pressure to New York, where last week he sent the first charter bus of undocumented immigrants in a fight against the Democratic administration that, in the case of the federal capital, threatens to overwhelm social services.

So much so that the Pentagon has rejected the sending of members of the National Guard, a reservist body that is usually deployed in emergencies, to attend to the migrants, as the authorities of the District of Columbia had requested.

The bus that arrived in New York on Friday, with 54 people on board, including minors, is not the first that Abbott charters to the Big Apple, arguing that Mayor Eric Adams has promised to make the city "a refuge" and wanting to make him a participant in the migratory crisis that, in his opinion, the border state is experiencing.

Although most of the migrants stayed along the way, many assured upon arrival that they did not know the final destination.

In addition to logistical problems, such as the challenge of finding accommodation for new arrivals in a network of "shelters already saturated by asylum seekers," according to Adams, migrants drag asylum or residence application files filed in the States through which they entered. to the country, so the resolution of their cases is now up in the air.

Abbott's is not an unprecedented measure, the spigot of migratory pressure on the borders (Ceuta and Melilla, the Greek islands of the Aegean, the border between Belarus and Lithuania or the Ventimiglia passage between France and Italy, among many others) it opens and closes at the will of politicians and their interests.

Those of Abbott, who began the transfer at the beginning of April and in May was seconded by his counterpart from Arizona, also a Republican Doug Ducey, are evident: to show a strong hand against immigration in the midst of the primary process and to respond to the attempt of the President Biden's administration to rescind the so-called Title 42, a regulation approved in the pandemic that provided for the expulsion of irregulars for health reasons and that a judge stopped in May, fueling the chaos on the border.

Immigration blackmail hides such sad cases as that of the six-year-old diabetic girl who was traveling on board the bus, who had to be referred to a New York hospital to receive insulin.

Or as a Venezuelan family made up of six adults and four children.

Most of the 54 passengers were Latin American.

Washington and New York are not the only

goals

Abbott's policies, any Democratic city on the East Coast, theoretically more open to foreigners than Republican strongholds, is likely to become a destination to force the Biden Administration to take action on the border.

Abbott's press office confirmed that the bus that arrived on Friday was carrying the "first group of immigrants traveling to New York City from Texas."

But they are not the first.

According to New York authorities, around 4,000 asylum seekers have arrived in recent months.

The difference is that the influx had not previously enjoyed the media coverage that a notice from Abbott's office achieved last week.

Groups from the Archdiocese of New York confirm that they have served over a thousand foreigners in recent weeks,

arriving directly to the city or prior detour through Washington.

“They come because the ticket is free, because they believe that it is better to try their luck than to live forever in a State where they are not wanted, and because in some cases they have the support of informal networks of family or friends who can help them start a new life here” , explains João Fes, a deacon from a Manhattan parish who collaborates in the reception.

Regarding nationalities, he affirms, "there is everything, from Venezuelans without resources to Guatemalans or Hondurans who flee from the gangs."

and because in some cases they have the support of informal networks of family or friends who can help them start a new life here”, explains João Fes, a deacon from a Manhattan parish who collaborates in the reception.

Regarding nationalities, he affirms, "there is everything, from Venezuelans without resources to Guatemalans or Hondurans who flee from the gangs."

and because in some cases they have the support of informal networks of family or friends who can help them start a new life here”, explains João Fes, a deacon from a Manhattan parish who collaborates in the reception.

Regarding nationalities, he affirms, "there is everything, from Venezuelans without resources to Guatemalans or Hondurans who flee from the gangs."

Abbott and Adams had been locked in a bitter controversy for weeks, with special resonance on social networks and in the press.

The bus left Eagle Pass two days after Adams announced emergency measures to exponentially increase shelter capacity.

It was not a free announcement, in any case: last month, the city violated a law that guarantees the right to housing by not providing accommodation to people who had applied to enter a shelter for families in the Bronx (the social housing network available in the city is deficient).

In defending himself, Adams blamed asylum seekers sent from Texas and Arizona, and Abbott saw the time to fight back.

Like Washington, Abbott said in a statement this weekend, New York is "the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has bragged about within the city." -shelter.

I hope he keeps his promise to welcome all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border cities can find relief.”

Both Adams and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser make the same point, that their cities are overwhelmed by the influx of asylum seekers when the shelter and housing system for the homeless is already at capacity.

In New York there were 50,000 occupied places last week, up from 46,000 in mid-May, although the department in charge has refused to detail how many of the migrants who have arrived in recent months have entered the system.

The network of old hotels that New York enabled during the pandemic as a temporary shelter solution for homeless people is one of the options to house the most urgent cases, such as families with minors.

Adams, in particular, has not been spared criticism of the lack of collaboration from the Washington Executive.

The White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, referred to the immigration crisis on Monday, minimizing the mayor's complaints, also a Democrat, that the White House is not doing enough.

Jean-Pierre noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is helping.

“This is up to Governor Abbott.

This is what he is doing, ”concluded the spokeswoman.

Washington, one of the cities that concentrates the bulk of Salvadoran emigration, among other sending countries, has received most of the buses from Texas and Arizona.

For both cities, in the middle of

Ferragosto

, with alerts for extreme heat and in a difficult economic situation, in which food banks suffer the impact of inflation, the challenge of welcoming thousands of exhausted people after trips that in many cases last months is capital.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-08-08

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