GOP states push back against DC, NYC calls for federal help with migrant surge

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Washington mayor complains about illegal immigrants bused to DC

Fox News host Pete Hegseth and contributor Monica Crowley sound off on 'Hannity' after Democrat Muriel Bowser pleads for assistance.

Republican states, including those at the southern border, are pushing back against calls from Democratic politicians in Washington, D.C., and New York City for federal help with alleged surges in illegal immigrants hitting their cities – arguing that those cities are dealing with the effects of liberal immigration policies by the Biden administration.

Both NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser have blamed Arizona and Texas for sending migrants to their cities, which they say is straining their social services, including homeless shelters.

Bowser claimed that migrants have been "tricked" into getting on buses to the nation’s capital and called for federal aid.

"Local taxpayers are not picking up the tab. They should not pick up the tab," Bowser said. "We really need a coordinated federal response. We know that it’s done for refugees who come to the states from all points of the world and the same has to be done in this situation."

NYC MAYOR ADAMS ASKS FOR FEDERAL MONEY TO HANDLE ASYLUM SEEKERS BUSED IN FROM OTHER STATES

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent migrants to Washington, D.C. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Adams, meanwhile, said NYC is dealing with a "marked increase" in asylum seekers, with more than 2,800 entering the city’s shelter system.

"In some instances, families are arriving on buses sent by the Texas and Arizona governments, while in other cases, it appears that individuals are being sent by the federal government," he said in a statement.

Both Texas and Arizona have been moving migrants to the nation’s capital as part of an effort to bring what they say are the consequences of "open border" policies to the politicians who promote them -- but they both denied sending any migrants to the Big Apple. They have also urged those mayors to turn their attention to the Biden administration, not to their states.

In a statement, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said that Adams "needs to get his facts straight and pay closer attention to what’s really occurring because our nation’s security depends on it."

"The State of Arizona is providing voluntary transportation for asylum seekers only to Washington, D.C., not New York," he said. "President Biden created the crisis at the border — he’s failed to respond to calls for action and refuses to even visit the border, so we’re bringing the issue a little closer to home for him."

"The president’s policies have placed overwhelming burdens on Arizona communities," he said. "It’s convenient that these liberal mayors are finally speaking up on this humanitarian crisis once it affects their communities, even though our program does not charter to New York City."

Renae Eze, a spokesperson for Gov. Abbott, also said that Texas had bused 5,200 migrants to D.C. since April, but not to NYC.

Gov. Doug Ducey speaks with Fox News at the National Governors Association's annual summer meeting, on July 13, 2022, in Portland, Maine. (Fox News )

"If these Democrat mayors are now that concerned about having migrants in their cities, they should call on President Biden to do his job and secure the border, instead of attacking Texas with baseless political accusations," she said in a statement.

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"Our border communities are being overrun and overwhelmed as President Biden’s open border policies encourage record-high illegal crossings and deadly drugs like fentanyl to flood into our state, and Texas is utilizing every strategy to help our local partners," she said. "Every American community is a border community until President Biden secures our southern border."

Meanwhile, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis battled with the Biden administration last year over the movement of migrants into the Sunshine State. Most recently, he has secured funding to transport migrants out of Florida – and has suggested they be sent to Biden’s home state of Delaware.

When asked whether DeSantis was sympathetic to the concerns of the D.C. and NYC mayors, DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw told Fox News Digital: "We’re sympathetic to the concerns of all Americans who are suffering due to Bidenflation, housing shortages, and failing public schools that are further strained by uncontrolled illegal migration." 

"This is a direct result of President Biden’s open-border agenda, which most liberal politicians (including the Mayor of NYC) have vocally supported," she said. "In other words, we feel for the innocent citizens harmed by the Biden Border Crisis, but we have zero sympathy for the politicians who created it and now complain about the predictable results."

Gov. Ron DeSantis' office has suggested sending migrants in Florida to Biden's home state of Delaware. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

"For over a year, Gov. DeSantis has pointed out that everyday Americans – particularly in Texas and Arizona, but also in Florida and elsewhere – are bearing the brunt of consequences from the Biden open-borders agenda," she added. "Meanwhile, Biden and other elites who advocate for these inhumane and anti-American policies have been insulated from their harmful effects."

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DeSantis’ office highlighted a slew of overdoses on fentanyl, which is primarily brought in via the southern border, as well as a number of Floridians who have been killed by illegal immigrant criminals – as well as "skyrocketing" human trafficking into the state. 

"Politicians in Washington, D.C., and New York City have pushed an open-border agenda while having the privilege to ignore the horrific consequences," Pushaw said. "That’s why Gov. DeSantis supports the efforts to send illegal aliens to cities (including DC and NYC) controlled by those politicians who have supported and enabled such reckless violations of our sovereignty."

Republicans have pointed to the rollback of Trump-era policies like the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) by the Biden administration, as well as the narrowing of interior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) priorities and the halting of border wall construction. The Biden administration has instead stressed the importance of tackling "root causes" like violence and poverty in Central America.