Vice President Kamala Harris has slammed Republican governors transporting migrants to progressive, including her Washington, DC residence, for their “dereliction of duty”.
Speaking to Vice News on Friday, Ms Harris said “these are political stunts with real human beings who are fleeing harm”.
The vice president was asked if she could understand the point Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott were trying to make by sending migrants to several areas, including Washington, DC, New York City, and Martha’s Vineyard, Masschusetts.
“They’re playing games,” she said.
“I mean, do you know what’s happening in Venezuela right now? There were children, people being put on a bus or a plane who didn’t know where they’re going or where they were being sent. Human beings, real people who have fled harm, who came to the United States of America seeking refuge, asylum,” Ms Harris told Vice.
“I think it is the height of irresponsibility, much less — just, frankly, a dereliction of duty, when you are an elected leader, to play those kinds of games with human life and human beings. If you think there is a problem, be part of the solution,” she added.
“Under the previous administration, they decimated a system that was designed to address immigration,” she said. “And so we have been spending in the last 18 months an incredible amount of time and work and resources to reconstruct that system. The first piece of legislation that we offered, back in January of last year, was for a pathway for citizenship. People are playing political games with that, and it’s going nowhere.
“We’re looking at the cause. Why do people leave home? Most people don’t want to leave home,” Ms Harris told Vice. “I’m in charge of coordinating what we call a ‘root causes strategy’. We have now raised $3.2bn to help the folks in those countries stay by giving them opportunities for them to take care of themselves in their home country, in their own country, which is frankly what they want to be able to do.”
Two buses carrying migrants first arrived at the Naval Observatory on Thursday morning.
A further 50 migrants were driven to the Naval Observatory, where Ms Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff live, in northwest Washington on Saturday morning.
The migrants were mostly from Venezuela, with one of the arrivals being a one-month-old baby. They were picked up by aid workers who took them to a shelter, Fox News Digital reported.
The Naval Observatory has been the vice president’s designated residence since 1974.
Some of the migrants initially brought to the residence were picked up in Eagle Pass, Texas after the buses set off from Del Rio. Both towns are situated along the border with Mexico.
Fox News Digital reported that the migrants arriving on Thursday came from Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia, and Mexico. The conservative outlet reported that some of the migrants said they believe the border is open.
The buses arrived in the US capital not long after Florida Republican governor Ron DeSantis sent two planes carrying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the Massachusetts coast, on Wednesday.
