Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) apparently will not be receiving assistance from the National Guard to help handle the influx of migrants being bused to the nation’s capital.
A senior Pentagon official told Fox News that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “has declined to approve the DCHSEMA request for DCNG to provide personnel and the DC Armory to assist the NGO, SAMU First Response, with transportation and reception of migrants arriving in the D.C. area.”
“We have determined providing this support would negatively impact the readiness of the DCNG and have negative effects on the organization and members,” the official explained.
They added, “We understand SAMU First Response has received grant funding through FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and has indicated that sufficient EFSP funds exist at this point to provide migrant assistance.”
The report comes after Bowser said she would ask for the National Guard to be deployed to assist with a “humanitarian crisis.”
“We are very focused, and we continued to be very focused on having the federal government take the lead in what we see is a growing humanitarian crisis with people who are seeking asylum coming across the country to get to their final destinations,” Bowser said.
She added, “And we’re going to continue to pursue federal involvement.”
In case you missed it:
DC @MayorBowser calls for activating the National Guard to handle the influx of illegal migrants into the city, calling it a "humanitarian crisis."
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 28, 2022
This is something she refused to do on January 6 but will do when 4,000 illegal migrants enter her city. pic.twitter.com/R3kUM5JUXs
Bowser went on to reveal that she asked the secretary of the Army to deploy the National Guard to get involved in addressing the flow of migrants being bused to the city.
“We need the Guard to help with the humanitarian crisis that we expect to escalate. The number of people crossing the border seeking asylum, we expect to only go up,” she said, adding, “We need to make sure that there is a national response, not an ad hoc city by city, state by state response.”
In April, Texas Greg Abbott (R) vowed to send illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C., and he has been making good on that promise.
After the first bus arrived in the capital, he tweeted, “First Texas bus drops off illegal immigrants blocks from US Capitol in Washington, DC. Biden refuses to come see the mess he’s made at the border.”
“So Texas is bringing the border to him,” Abbott added.
First Texas bus drops off illegal immigrants blocks from US Capitol in Washington, DC.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 13, 2022
Biden refuses to come see the mess he’s made at the border.
So Texas is bringing the border to him.https://t.co/wHZkwnD305
Bowser has previously raised concerns about the influx of migrants being bused to the city.
However, White House officials were reportedly frustrated with her request for assistance due to concerns that Republicans would use it to attack President Joe Biden.