Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced an emergency appropriations bill in the House on Tuesday to provide $50 million in emergency aid for migrants being bused to DC from Texas and Arizona.
The additional funding is intended for the food and shelter program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which will support migrants, including those being bused into the District, through humanitarian assistance.
“The governors of Texas and Arizona are exploiting and harming desperate and vulnerable people fleeing dangerous situations in their home countries for political gain,” Norton repeated in a release on Tuesday.
“I commend the work organizations in D.C. and the National Capital Region have done to assist these migrants, but more funding is needed to assist these families,” she added.
I introduced an emergency appropriations bill to provide an additional $50 million for humanitarian assistance for the migrants arriving in DC from TX and AZ.
Details: https://t.co/IOt3vzyHpm
— Eleanor #DCStatehood Holmes Norton (@EleanorNorton) August 23, 2022
Homeless shelters in DC have filled up due to approximately 5,000 migrants who have arrived in the city from Arizona and Texas since April. Aid organizations are struggling to help them.
In mid-July, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey of “tricking” asylum seekers into getting on buses headed to DC, even though their final destinations are all around the US.
The mayor urged the federal government to stop the practice so that migrants can reach their final destinations.
Bowser also twice requested the DC National Guard’s assistance in the District’s handling of the massive number of arriving migrants. However, the Department of Defense denied the requests.