Biden condemns Abbott, DeSantis for second day after migrants are sent to east coast
TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - For the second straight day, the White House condemned the decisions by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to send migrants from Texas to the east coast.
Both Governors said they'll continue doing so until President Joe Biden secures the border.
But President Biden accused the Republican Governors of interfering with the process that his administration has in place at the southern border.
Speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala Thursday night, the President said, "Instead of working with us on solutions. Republicans are playing politics with human beings using them as props. What they're doing is simply wrong. It's un-American. It's reckless."
In West Texas on Friday, Senator Ted Cruz pushed back, saying President Biden is only responding after migrants arrived in Martha's Vineyard, Washington, DC, New York, and Chicago.
"Why don't they care about the Texas towns that are literally facing millions? You got to the valley and every hospital bed is full, every prison is full, the schools are overflowing.. and the administration's policy is just to allow it wide open," Cruz said.
The State of Texas made headlines Thursday after two buses of migrants arrived outside of Vice President Kamala Harris' official home, the U.S. Naval Observatory.
That followed the state of Florida sending migrants from Texas on a chartered flight to Martha's Vineyard.
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called it a publicity stunt.
"Why else would Governor DeSantis spend the time to charter a flight to take migrants out of a different state, not even his state, a different state, and hire a videographer to capture footage of that flight," Jean-Pierre said.
During a news conference in Daytona Beach, DeSantis said his state has gone to Texas to identify migrants who want to go to Florida after they're released from federal custody and wait for their asylum hearings.
DeSantis said he is offering the migrants trips to sanctuary cities and called the situation at the southern border a failure by the President.
"He didn't scramble to get his cabinet together when we had millions of people illegally pouring across the southern border.. It's only when you have 50 illegal aliens end up in a very wealthy, rich, sanctuary enclave that he decided to scramble on this," DeSantis said.
Jean-Pierre cited reports that both states have misled the migrants about where they are being sent and the help that they will receive.
But DeSantis and Abbott's Press Secretary have insisted that the asylum-seekers are told where they are going and must sign waivers before making the voluntary trips.
To date, Abbott said the state has sent more than 11,000 migrants to other cities, which has cost the state $12 million.
U.S. Border Patrol reports between October 1, 2021, and July 31, 2022, about two million people tried crossing the southern border.
On Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom called on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the states of Texas and Florida for sending the migrants to other cities.
No word yet if the Justice Department is doing so.