AFP
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NOS News•today, 22:20
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Texan Governor Greg Abbott has sent busses of immigrants to New York. The first bus, containing about fifty migrants, arrived Friday morning (local time).
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Abbott, a Republican, has sent more than 6,000 migrants to capital Washington since April, but this is the first time he has also sent buses to New York. However, many of the people sent to Washington already made their own way to New York. According to The New York Times a large part of the immigrants on the buses is Venezuelan.
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Arizona Republican governor Doug Ducey also regularly sends immigrants to Washington on buses. About 1,000 people were transported to the capital from Arizona.
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The mayor of Washington had submitted a request to the Department of Defense to send the National Guard because of the growing number of immigrants in his city. According to the mayor, there is a deepening humanitarian crisis that would require 150 members of the unit per day. But the Pentagon will not accede to this request.
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Stunt to get attention
With their actions, the governors want to force Democratic President Biden to do more against illegal immigration and to pass tougher immigration laws. An emergency law was passed during the corona pandemic that made very strict border controls, but Biden wants to repeal this law, much to the dismay of Republicans.
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They disagree with the president’s more lenient policy when it comes to immigrants over his predecessor Trump. The governors speak disdainfully of Biden and, for example, New York City Mayor Adams (a Democrat), who has said that migrants are welcome in the city.
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According to political commentators, the action by the governors is mainly a stunt to get attention and to discredit Biden’s policies. The midterm elections to Congress are in November, in which Republicans will try to gain a majority in the House of Representatives. This makes it more difficult for the Biden administration to pass important laws. Immigration is an important theme in those elections.
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