[Volunteers, who have welcomed new arrivals with food and shelter
draw comparisons between Republican governors and the D.C. mayor
because they similarly punt towards the Biden administration.
“Washingtonians are present, but their government is not."]
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MAYOR BOWSER REQUESTS D.C. NATIONAL GUARD TO SUPPORT MIGRANTS BEING
BUSED INTO UNION STATION  
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Amanda Michelle Gomez
July 28, 2022
DCist
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_ Volunteers, who have welcomed new arrivals with food and shelter
draw comparisons between Republican governors and the D.C. mayor
because they similarly punt towards the Biden administration.
“Washingtonians are present, but their government is not." _

Mayor Bowser wants to deploy the D.C. National Guard to support the
influx of migrants to the city, Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU

 

Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday that she requested the D.C.
National Guard to support migrants who are being been bused into D.C.
by Republican governors, after receiving criticism about her
lackluster response so far
[[link removed]].

“We continue to be very focused on having the federal government do
its part and take the lead in addressing what we see as a growing
humanitarian crisis with people who are seeking asylum,” said
[[link removed]] Bowser
at a press conference on Thursday.

Bowser had to make the request to the U.S. Secretary of the Army to
deploy the city’s National Guard because D.C. is not a state.

In a letter dated July 19 to the Office of the Secretary of Defense,
the Bowser administration requested 150 national guardsmen per day to
assist the international nonprofit SAMU First Response, which receives
federal dollars and supports the thousands of migrants bused to Union
Station alongside local volunteers. The Bowser administration also
requested the use of a  federal location in the region where SAMU
could offer immediate assistance to migrants, as well as
transportation to that facility. Currently, nonprofit staff and
volunteers meet one-on-one with migrants to go over their needs at
Union Station’s food court.

“Immigration is a federal issue, one that needs to be addressed by
the federal government with federal resources,” said D.C. Homeland
Security and Emergency Management Agency Director, Christopher
Rodriguez, in the letter to the Office of the Secretary of Defense on
behalf of the mayor.

The mayor has so far not received a response to her administration’s
letter. The federal defense department did not immediately respond to
request for comment.

Volunteers with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network have
welcomed and supported migrants for months, and have repeatedly
said their current setup is unsustainable
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especially because SAMU does not provide long-term support to the
growing number of asylum seekers who decide to stay indefinitely in
D.C. On Thursday, the group criticized the mayor’s decision to
request the National Guard. “Instead of recognizing that the DC
community has responded beautifully in recent weeks to show that a
community response is possible, she’s choosing to further traumatize
people arriving to DC after fleeing for their lives with a militarized
response,” the group said in a statement to DCist/WAMU. “It’s
despicable, and part of the ongoing militarization of humanitarian
aid.”

Amy Fischer, who works as the advocacy director for Amnesty
International but volunteers her time with the Migrant Solidarity
Mutual Aid Network, suggested that the D.C. government apply for the
same federal grant that SAMU did. She says San Antonio used these
dollars to fund a local humanitarian effort for welcoming migrants.
The Washington Post’s Editorial Board also recommended something to
this effect
[[link removed]].

Notably, a couple from Venezuela, seeking asylum in the U.S. told
DCist/WAMU
[[link removed]] on
Saturday that they preferred D.C. to Texas because they’ve received
a warmer welcome from local volunteers here, and not military. They
arrived to Union Station on Friday and had been staying at a
volunteer’s house and breaking bread with them. “It was tougher
because in the border there are military, so they treat you like
military,” Ronald said of his experience in Texas.

Bowser says this is a federal issue because Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey
and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott are busing migrants to the nation’s
capital to protest President Joe Biden’s immigration policies. The
governors said the federal government should be responsible for
supporting people seeking asylum in the U.S. because their states do
not have the bandwidth to do so. Ducey tweeted
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Thursday that he too deployed their National Guard in response to
influx of migrants. “Arizona has called on the Biden admin since
April 2021 to declare a national emergency and deploy the powers of
the federal government. No response. So we deployed the National Guard
on our own, with state resources.”

Local volunteers, who have welcomed new arrivals with food and shelter
for months, started drawing comparisons between the response from
Republican governors and the D.C. mayor because they similarly punt
towards the Biden administration. “Washingtonians, as people, are
here, present, but their government is not here,” Isaias
Guerrero, told DCist/WAMU
[[link removed]] over
the weekend, as he welcomed and offered support to 70 migrants at
Union Station who arrived Saturday.

“We don’t see anybody from Mayor Bowser’s office here. We
don’t see anybody from the Office of Latino Affairs here to say
‘Welcome, how can we support you’ even if it’s with like
waters,” he continued. “People just want to wash their hands
because this is seen as a hot potato. But what it should be seen as is
an opportunity for us to actually create a model of being
welcoming.”

The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network has been sending volunteers
like Guerrero  to Union Station to greet migrants since April, when
Abbott first started busing migrans to D.C. The grassroots network is
led by Black and brown people, as well as immigrants, and represents
over 20 local, social justice groups. Several nonprofits, including
Catholic Charities and CARECEN, joined volunteers over the last
several months in welcoming migrants.

Catholic Charities and CARECEN scaled back their support for migrants
when SAMU First Response received a federal grant in June to support
migrants with transportation, a 50-bed  emergency shelter, and meals.
Bowser has said she worked with the federal government to secure the
FEMA grant, which SAMU confirmed to DCist/WAMU. “But our ongoing
response was not sustainable from a staffing and resource perspective,
given our many other programs and services,” said president and CEO
of Catholic Charities, John J. Enzler, in a July 15 statement
[[link removed]].
“We strongly encouraged local and federal government to step up.”

SAMU also says its small team of 20-25 workers cannot keep up with the
number of migrants coming into the city, or the frequency at which
they arrive. Abbott alone has sent over 5,400 migrants into D.C. 
Buses arrive six days a week at all hours of the day. “It is not the
expectation of FEMA that we take care of everybody — it is to
provide support to as many [people we can],” SAMU’s director of
operations, Tatiana Laborde, told DCist/WAMU
[[link removed]].
This is partly why the nonprofit has been splitting labor and
resources with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network.

Locals arrange transportation for migrants leaving the city after
getting dropped off at Union Station, buying bus and airplane tickets,
and sheltering those who decide to stay local indefinitely. While most
people leave for other cities and states, volunteers and nonprofit
staff say 10-15% of migrants decide to settle in the region. Many of
these people have no one to sponsor or support them, they say, and
they are not allowed to legally work until their immigration papers
are squared away.

Laborde said SAMU does not offer resettlement services to migrants,
because that’s not what the nonprofit’s grant enables workers to
do. One migrant couple that DCist/WAMU met in May
[[link removed]],
Caro and Alejo, are still staying with a volunteer in her
750-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment. The Bowser administration has
not yet appeared to publicly acknowledge the increasing number of
migrants staying locally, while the Montgomery County Health
Department said last Friday
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helped dozens of migrants who settled in the region.

_Amanda Michelle Gomez is interested in covering the health and
well-being of local residents, as well as the working conditions they
face on a daily basis. As a general assignment reporter, she reports
on all that and much more. Amanda has written and reported on a
variety of topics, from housing to homicides, having worked at Kaiser
Health News and Washington City Paper. When she is not
working, Amanda is probably practicing yoga or biking around. She is
originally from East Los Angeles, so is always in search of the best
tacos._

_DCist is the unofficial homepage of the District. We cover what
matters to Washingtonians, whether that’s the latest piece of
legislation before the D.C. Council or the best thing to order at the
new restaurant around the corner.  DCist is supported by a community
of members … readers just like you. So if you love the local news
and stories you find here, don’t let it disappear!  We depend on
your support...DONATE [[link removed]]_

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