By Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press
The Pentagon on Monday again denied the District of Columbia's request to send in the National Guard to help deal with the arrival in the city of thousands of immigrants being bused in from Texas and Arizona.
According to a copy of a letter to the city reviewed by The Associated Press, the Defense Department argued that using the National Guard in the capital would be inappropriate and hurt the overall readiness of troops, forcing some to cancel or discontinue their military training.
Silvia Moreno del Castillo, center, from Peru, gets off a bus with her 3-year-old daughter, Brisa, and her husband, Gerardo Puente, after arriving by bus in Washington DC on August 11, 2022 from Arizona.Jacquelyn Martin /AP
The letter explains that the department is also concerned about putting the military in direct contact with migrants to provide them with food, hygiene or other types of assistance, stating that the troops have no real experience or training for this task.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rejected a similar request in early August, so Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that she would send a modified and "more specific" proposal.
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Bowser had initially called for an open deployment of 150 National Guardsmen per day, as well as a "suitable federal location" to establish a mass housing and processing center, proposing the D.C. Arsenal for that purpose. The revised request called for aid will be provided for 90 days only.
The Pentagon also denied use of the armory, saying it is not air-conditioned and would have to undergo expensive modifications and repairs to make it suitable for overnight stays.
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In its first denial, the Department of Defense also noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) food and shelter program has provided insufficient funding for now to care for arriving migrants.
The last letter said that the city should continue to work with non-governmental groups to address the problem.
The Republican governors of Texas, Greg Abbott, and Arizona, Doug Ducey, announced in the spring their plans to send busloads of migrants to Washington, DC, in response to President Joe Biden's decision to lift an emergency health order from the time of the pandemic that restricted the number of migrant entries by denying them the possibility of applying for asylum.
The rule remains in force by court order.
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As of August 5, Texas had bused more than 7,000 migrants to Washington, DC, and more than 900 to New York City, according to the governor's office.
As of August 22, the state of Arizona had sent 1,516 migrants to DC, in 41 trips, according to official figures.
Every week between two and three buses leave, with a maximum of 40 migrants each.
Governors describe this practice as a voluntary free trip -paid for by state taxpayers-, which brings migrants closer to their families or support networks.