The office of Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) pushed back Tuesday against criticism over busing dozens of migrants to Vice President Harris’ residence in Washington DC on Saturday, amid record cold temperatures.
Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze said in a statement, “The White House is full of a bunch of hypocrites, led by the Hypocrite-in-Chief…Instead of their hypocritical complaints about Texas providing much-needed relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities, President Biden and Border Czar Harris need to step up and do their jobs to secure the border—something they continue failing to do.”
The White House on Monday slammed Gov. Abbott, saying he “abandoned children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with Federal or local authorities.”
Amy Fischer, an aid worker who was outside Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory said that 139 migrants arrived late Saturday in three buses and none wore cold-weather gear. The temperature was in the teens.
The migrants, some of whom were children or people dressed in T-shirts, were sent to a nearby shelter for assistance.
In her statement on Tuesday, Abbott spokeswoman Eze said that the bused migrants “willingly chose to go” and also “signed a voluntary consent waiver available in multiple languages upon boarding that they agreed on the destination.”
Since April, Abbott’s office has bused migrants to Democratic-led cities, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, as a protest against the Biden Administration’s immigration policies.
A spokesperson for the Texas Division of Emergency Management said in September that the state had spent more than $12 million on the trips, which include charter buses and security.
