At an event Thursday night, President Joe Biden condemned Republican governors for transporting migrants to protest his administration’s immigration policies, charging them with “playing politics with human beings.”
The president’s remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala on Thursday — the first day of National Hispanic Heritage Month — came hours after the Republican governors of Florida and Texas transported scores of migrants Wednesday and Thursday morning to Martha’s Vineyard and near the Washington residence of Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Instead of working with us on solutions, Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props,” Biden said. “What they're doing is simply wrong. It's un-American, it's reckless.
“We have a process in place to manage migrants at the border,” the president continued. “We're working to make sure it's safe and orderly and humane. Republican officials should not interfere with that process by waging these political stunts.”
According to Gov. Ron DeSantis' office, Florida paid for two flights of “illegal immigrants” to be flown to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where former President Barack Obama owns a mansion.
The flights were part of a $12 million program approved by the Florida Legislature to “facilitate the transport of illegal immigrants from this state consistent with federal law,” a statement from communications director Taryn Fenske said.
Hours after the planes landed at Martha’s Vineyard, two buses carrying migrants coming from the border city of Eagle Pass, Texas, arrived near Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the buses, carrying over 100 people, to be driven to Washington, he confirmed on Twitter. The migrants originally came from Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico, according to Fox News.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Harris' husband, called what transpried at the Vice President's residence "shameful."
"These people are human beings," Emhoff told repoters on Friday. "We have so-called leaders in this country, rather than focusing on what’s good for the public within their own states, they’re using people as pawns for a political stunt."
Two people on those buses who spoke to Spectrum News said they came all the way from Venezuela, trekking through the jungle for several days before crossing over into Panama and the rest of Central America and ultimately passing over the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico border to enter the United States.
Abbott has previously sent similar buses to Washington, New York, Chicago, arguing that his state is overwhelmed by migrants at the border and that other areas of the country should shoulder some of the burden. He blames Biden’s border policies.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey also has been busing migrants to Washington since May. Passengers must sign waivers that the free trips are voluntary.
Both Abbott and DeSantis are up for reelection in November; while Arizona’s statehouse is also up for grabs in the fall, Ducey is term-limited and cannot run.
Biden called on Congress to take action to pass comprehensive, immigration reform urging Senate Republicans “to come to the table and provide a pathway for citizenship for Dreamers, those in temporary status, farmworkers and essential workers.”
“We need to modernize our laws so businesses get workers they need, and families don't have to wait decades to be brought back together. It's time to get it done,” Biden said.
Thursday's events led to calls for the Department of Justice to investigate the migrant travel, including Charlie Crist, the Democratic nominee challenging DeSantis for re-election, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent critic of the Florida governor.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday, California Gov. Newsom called for the Department of Justice to immediately investigate what he blasted as a "alleged fraudulent scheme."
"I strongly urge the U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ) to open an investigation into possible criminal or civil violations of federal law based on this alleged fraudulent scheme," Newsom wrote in his letter.
"Several of the individuals who were transported to Martha's Vineyard have alleged that a recruiter induced them to accept the offer of travel based on false representations that they would be transported to Boston and would be receive expedited access to work authorization," Newsom wrote. "The interstate travel at issue provides a basis for federal jurisdiction over this matter."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday said the administration would let the Justice Department handle any legal issues pertaining to those states that sent migrants on flights, some of which were allegedly misled about their final destination.
The administration will, Jean-Pierre said, continue to do "what we can as a federal government to support these cities as we rebuild our asylum processing system after it was gutted by the Trump administration." Already, FEMA administrators and officials from other federal agencies have met with local leaders in locations like Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C. to "coordinate available federal support from FEMA and other federal agencies."
At a briefing Thursday, Jean-Pierre issued a similar condemnation, saying that “using migrants as political pawns is shameful, reckless and just plain wrong.”
Jean-Pierre also charged that the migrants who arrived in Martha’s Vineyard “were misled about where they were being taken and what would be provided when they arrived,” calling it “deeply alarming.”
The children, Jean-Pierre said, “deserve better than being left on the streets of D.C. or being left in Martha’s Vineyard.”
"The fact that Fox News and not the Department of Homeland Security, the city or local NGOs [non-governmental organizations] were alerted about a plan to leave migrants, including children, on the side of a busy DC street makes clear that this is just a cruel, premeditated political stunt," she said, referring to the fact that the outlet first reported the transportation of migrants from Florida to Martha's Vineyard.