Opinion | Washington D.C. must prepare for more migrant buses - US News Today

Comment

A recent slowdown in the stream of buses bearing migrant asylum seekers to D.C. from the southwest border has paused talk about what Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has called a “humanitarian crisis.” Don’t be misled. It is likely that many more buses are on their way, owing to the Republican stuntmen who govern Texas and Arizona, and that D.C. will again be overwhelmed by migrants needing at least temporary shelter as well as medical and other assistance. That means the city, along with federal agencies and nonprofit organizations now handling the problem with little support, need to prepare now.

The buses are an act of political gamesmanship initiated this spring by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R); Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) promptly followed suit. Their aim is to embarrass the Biden administration and generate headlines on the surge in illegal border crossings, which the GOP is using as a political cudgel in the midterm elections.

Some 7,000 migrants are thought to have arrived in D.C. since the spring. Others are being bused to New York City, where Mayor Eric Adams (D), by verbally sparring with Mr. Abbott, has positioned himself as a convenient foil for a Texas governor seeking a third term in office.

Some of the migrants — from Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and elsewhere — have suffered trauma in their trek north. Many have immediate needs on arrival, for food, shelter and medical attention. The large majority who arrive in Washington are transients who intend to board a bus, train or plane for another destination. But hundreds have stayed, and many more will do so in the coming months.

The National Guard last month refused Ms. Bowser’s first application for help in processing the migrants. She has made a second, more streamlined request: National Guard members — an official said just 50 of them would suffice — to help out for 90 days with logistics, as they did when D.C. was ramping up its coronavirus testing program. Unlike governors, Ms. Bowser does not control the National Guard in her jurisdiction.

But the National Guard, if it arrives, would be a Band-Aid, not a solution. Border crossings, and D.C.-bound buses, are likely to spike if federal courts allow the Biden administration to lift a pandemic-era health measure under which migrants are routinely expelled back into Mexico. For Ms. Bowser, expecting others to fill the void is not policy; it is avoidance.

She must step up. The city will need to spend its own money to supplement the support now offered to arriving migrants by volunteers and nonprofit agencies. Montgomery County has been helpful in establishing a 50-person “respite center” where migrants can stay for two or three nights after arriving. The city must also apply for federal funding to stand up a migrant resource center similar to one recently opened in San Antonio with a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The federal government also needs to do more. FEMA’s reimbursement funding to a nonprofit, SAMU, which helps migrants as they arrive, comes with strings attached, covering only a portion of bus or train fare for migrants, even penniless ones, to reach their final destinations. The migrant problem belongs to everyone, and so does the burden of relief.