Mayor Muriel Bowser likes to boast that Washington, D.C. is a sanctuary city. Yet, once she is taken up on her claim and a few buses of illegal migrants are dropped off in her city, she cries out for help from the Department of Defense. What’s up with that, Muriel?
Washington, D.C. is not a state so requests for assistance from the National Guard go through the Department of Defense. Bowser first requested that the National Guard be deployed to help receive illegal migrants arriving from Texas and Arizona. In July she reasoned this move is necessary because of the “humanitarian crisis” in the nation’s capital. She asked for a 90-day deployment and a review at the end of that time. The Pentagon denied her request. So, on August 11, Bowser requested the deployment of the National Guard for a second time. She provided a specific 90-day timeline that would begin on August 22. She was denied again on Monday.
The Pentagon sent a letter to Bowser which cited reasons for its denial of her request. First and foremost, the D.C. National Guard does not have specific training or experience in providing facility management. Their assignment would include feeding the migrants, providing sanitation needs, and ground support. The deployment would have a “substantial” impact on the readiness of the troops in D.C.
The mayor admitted in her request that most of the migrants only need assistance for about 72 hours because they don’t stay in D.C.
Bowser’s requests play into a complaint the U.S. military officials have uttered privately over the past few years. They are being used for tasks that should be done by civilian agencies. Calling up the National Guard in a domestic situation like this should be a last resort type of action. They aren’t a welcoming committee.
If it was not so irritating to those of us who live in a border state it would be almost comical to see the pearl clutching going on over migrants arriving in an orderly fashion on buses from Texas and Arizona. Texas has sent about 7500 migrants so far to D.C. The purpose of the buses is to highlight the real humanitarian crisis brought on by the Biden border crisis. The humanitarian crisis on the border in Texas and Arizona is chaotic and dangerous. Governors Abbott and Ducey are making the point that Texas and Arizona should not be in a position to handle the Biden border crisis alone. Illegal migration is overwhelming border communities and law enforcement, including Border Patrol agents, because small towns are not equipped to handle such floods of people into their towns. There are not enough shelters or personnel on the ground to handle it. Biden’s border crisis is ok for Texans to deal with but not for those in Washington, D.C., apparently.
Them’s the breaks, Muriel. Apparently the mayor is all talk about her sanctuary city. What’s the problem with welcoming these migrants? As she said, most of them don’t even stay in D.C., they move on to other destinations. Joe Biden’s border crisis has turned every state into a border state. I’m pondering if I read anything anywhere about Mayor Bowser complaining when DHS flies or buses illegal migrants into the D.C. area in the middle of the night, as DHS has done repeatedly to cities across the country. I haven’t. DHS does it for the same reason Abbott and Ducey are doing it – to relieve overcrowding along the border. Where better to make a point than in D.C. where all the lawmakers are who are supposed to make immigration law? It’s also good to remind Biden that if he was for law and order along the border, he would insist that immigration laws already on the books are enforced. Joe Biden doesn’t care. The border crisis is intentional.
Bowser is irritating some White House officials with her requests for help from the National Guard. They think she can handle the situation without military assistance, which she certainly should be able to do. The White House thinks she is playing into Republican political attacks on Biden’s border crisis. The White House really doesn’t care about the actual problem, only the optics. This is a substance-free administration. All optics, no substance.
Governor Abbott’s office said that the buses will continue so Mayor Bowser may as well get used to it. Isn’t that what she expects Texas to do, just suck it up?
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