Political discord explodes over migrants transported from border states to U.S. cities

A migrant bus from Texas arrives at the Port Authority terminal in New York, the United States, on Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Emma Li/Xinhua)

U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other Republican governors Thursday evening over the relocation of migrants, saying that they are "playing politics with human beings, using them as props."

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Discord between U.S. Republicans and Democrats is exploding over migrants sent from the country's southern border states to cities in the northeast.

Two buses from Texas dropped off over 100 migrants outside U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Thursday morning.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has chartered buses to transport migrants from Texas to the U.S. capital since April, said that the latest group of individuals came from Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela.

A Republican, Abbott accused U.S. President Joe Biden and his deputy, Harris, of "ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years."

Biden, a Democrat, criticized Abbott and other Republican governors Thursday evening over the relocation of migrants, saying that they are "playing politics with human beings, using them as props."

"What they're doing is simply wrong," Biden told attendees at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala. "It's reckless. And we have a process in place to manage migrants at the border."

Abbott added New York City and Chicago as additional drop-off locations last month. His "busing strategy" has sent over 10,000 migrants to what Republicans call "sanctuary cities."

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has made a similar move and bused thousands of migrants to states and cities run by Democrats over the past few months.

Migrants arrive at the Port Authority terminal in New York, the United States, on Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Emma Li/Xinhua)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, another Republican, sent two planes of migrants to Martha's Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts, on Wednesday.

"In Florida, we take what is happening at the southern border seriously," DeSantis tweeted Thursday. "We are not a sanctuary state, and we will gladly facilitate the transport of illegal immigrants to sanctuary jurisdictions."

Massachusett Governor Charlie Baker announced on Friday a new shelter at Joint Base Cape Cod "for the approximately 50 migrants who arrived in Martha's Vineyard this week."

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, took a shot at DeSantis over the flights of migrants to Martha's Vineyard, tweeting on Thursday that "exploiting vulnerable people for political stunts is repulsive and cruel."

California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried have suggested separately that they would ask the U.S. Department of Justice to look into DeSantis over the migrants sent to Massachusetts.

U.S. federal agents have made about 1.82 million arrests at the country's southern border so far this fiscal year, according to figures released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection last month.