Buses full of migrants are arriving in D.C. every week, but the mayor says the city isn’t equipped to help them. News4’s Mauricio Casillas reports.
For months, migrants have been bused into Washington, D.C., from Texas and Arizona, but aid groups say there are not enough resources available.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began chartering buses to send migrants to D.C. and other so-called "sanctuary cities" earlier this year.
At first, a few buses of migrants arrived to the nation's capital each week.
"A very good idea," Experanza, a migrant from Colombia said via an interpretor about being bussed from Texas to D.C.
She arrived back in May, when there were more volunteers and resources available.
But now, advocates say the city's resources are nearly depleted.
“We’re getting up to sometimes four buses with about 40 people each – that’s per day. The need has outstripped our capacity to respond to it," said Abel Nuñez, executive director of the Central American Resource Center.
Nuñez and his group have been helping out.
“It’s really difficult. The funds have run out, so we can’t send people right away to their final destination. You have to remember, the majority of people do not want to stay in the DMV," he said.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that D.C. is not equipped to handle all the migrants who are arriving at Union Station, and she’s calling on the federal government to do more.
“We have to be very focused on working with D.C. residents who are homeless and have a right to shelter in our city,” Bowser said.
She said she is concerned about the capacity at the city's homeless shelters.
“It requires a federal response,” she said.
"I understand her point that this is a federal issue and the federal government needs to provide more resources.
But if she does not provide some sort of resources so that we can receive them, they will eventually become the city’s problem – and we’re beginning to see that,” Nuñez said.
Bowser said FEMA has given aid groups a grant to help them out, but Nuñez says it’s not nearly enough.
He said what migrants need is shelter space and resources from the city.
Migrants who were bused to D.C. have already been processed by the Department of Homeland Security and are awaiting their immigration court hearings. All of them chose to come to D.C. voluntarily.
