Vice President Kamala Harris accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday of engaging in “political theater” by transporting busloads of migrants to right outside her Washington home.

“They’ve fled great harm, and they are coming here [to the United States] seeking refuge,” Harris said of the migrants during an interview on NBC's “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” “And talk about political theater — I mean, playing games with people's lives. … You know, there were mothers with sleeping babies getting off those buses.”

The vice president said it’s a “dereliction of duty” for an elected official to believe there is a problem and not work toward a solution. 

“When we first came in office, the first bill that we proposed was for a pathway for citizenship, was to fix a broken immigration system, which was broken under the previous administration,” Harris said. “Participate in the solution because we are offering solutions. But instead [there’s] this gamesmanship with real human beings who trust us.”

In a statement sent to Spectrum News on Tuesday, Abbott's press secretary, Renae Eze, said: “The dereliction of duty is President Biden and Border Czar Harrs’ refusal to uphold their oaths of office and secure our southern border. The Biden Administration’s reckless open border policies have created an ongoing humanitarian crisis, as historic levels of illegal immigrants, terrorists, and deadly drugs like fentanyl surge across the southern border and into Texas communities. And just days ago when she came to Texas, Border Czar Harris still refused to go to the border and see their crisis firsthand.

"Until President Biden and Border Czar Harris do their jobs, Texas will continue bringing the border to them and busing migrants to help our overrun border towns.”

On Sept. 15, buses coming from Texas dropped off more than 100 migrants near Washington’s Naval Observatory, which houses Harris’ residence. The move, ordered by Abbott, was in response to Harris telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” days before that the southern border is “secure.”

Abbott wrote in a tweet then: "VP Harris claims our border is 'secure' & denies the crisis. We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border."

Those buses arrived the same day that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent a flight carrying migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Abbott sent another bus of about 50 migrants to the Naval Observatory last week. He also has sent similar buses to New York, Chicago and elsewhere in Washington, 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. 

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, there have been 1.6 million law-enforcement encounters at the border this year — more than double what was seen up until the same point of 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.

Among the other topics Harris and Meyers discussed was President Joe Biden’s decision last week to pardon all federal offenses of “simple possession of marijuana.”

Harris said she and the majority of Americans “agree nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”

Harris called on governors “to take our lead and to pardon people who have been criminalized for possession of marijuana” and Congress to pass legislation that would establish “a uniform approach to this.”

Note: This article has been updated with the response from Abbott's office.