While bused migrants overwhelm other cities, D.C. scales back services

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/while-bused-migrants-overwhelm-other-cities-d-c-scales-back-services

D.C. has begun to scale back its migrant assistance program and plans to close one of the hotels it uses to house those bused in from Texas and Arizona, even as other cities across the country plead with the Biden administration for more resources to deal with an influx of asylum seekers crossing the border.

No buses have arrived in D.C. since November, sparing the District some of the recent strain that other cities have felt in trying to house and support thousands of migrants. But some immigrant groups say the city is unnecessarily forcing out those who had been staying at three Northeast Washington hotels.

As of Tuesday, there were 637 migrants still inside two of the hotels on New York Avenue in Northeast Washington, said the city’s Department of Human Services (DHS), which oversees the Office of Migrant Services. A third hotel, the Days Inn, is nearly empty as the city plans to close down its operations there Friday, DHS said.

In total, more than 13,000 migrants from Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere have arrived in D.C. since the first buses began heading to the city in April 2022 as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) Operation Lone Star, an effort to shame the Biden administration into doing more to curb border crossings. Buses from Arizona followed.

While the heavily Democratic nation’s capital was once the symbol of choice for Abbott, it has largely slipped off the radar as buses have gone to New York, Denver and other cities — which have pleaded for more aid from the Biden administration to help them with the thousands of arrivals. The lull in buses to D.C. stems from an overall drop in illegal border crossings since December and a decision by the faith-based center that was handling the bus departures in Del Rio, Tex., to no longer do so.

Meanwhile, Arizona has ruled out D.C. as a destination, opting to transport asylum seekers to nonprofits within the state or nearby as a cost-cutting measure, a spokesperson with Arizona’s Department of Emergency and Military Affairs said.