DC Attorney General Karl Racine‘s office is granting a total of $150,000 to six local nonprofit organizations that support asylum-seekers and migrants who have been bused into the District.
In a press release, Racine accused the governors of Arizona and Texas of creating “an unnecessary, cruel humanitarian crisis” by sending migrants to DC from their states on buses, calling the move a “purely political stunt.”
“My office has a strong track record of standing up for immigrants and taking action to improve public safety across the District and we’re eager to support these organizations that are helping migrant families as part of a broad-based community effort,” Racine said.
“We must use every tool at our disposal to answer the call for additional resources and provide aid to these vulnerable people,” he added.
Elizabeth Workman, founder of Goods for Good, which is one of the recipients of the funds, praised Racine’s efforts to address the crisis in a statement.
Workman said her organization has been providing resources for migrants who arrived in DC on buses, along with other nonprofits, and it will increase its work thanks to the financial support from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
NEW: Today, six local nonprofit organizations will receive grants from my office totaling $150,000 to support front-line efforts to provide critical resources – such as housing, food, clothing, and transportation – to vulnerable migrants arriving from Arizona and Texas.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) September 1, 2022
The aid groups that will receive grants from OAG include:
- Friends Place on Capitol Hill (awarded $31,920)
- Goods for Good (awarded $16,550)
- Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of DC (awarded $32,280)
- Ayuda (awarded $32,350)
- Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) (awarded $31,900)
- Father McKenna Center (awarded $5,000)
DC homeless shelters and aid organizations are struggling to help migrants who have arrived from Arizona and Texas over the past few months.
In April, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott started busing asylum-seekers into the District from his state. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey followed suit starting in May.
Speaking to CBS News in July, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said that these vulnerable people are “being tricked into” getting on buses headed to DC, despite the fact that their final destinations are all around the US.
In an effort to help DC deal with the issue, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced an emergency appropriations bill in the House in late August to provide $50 million in emergency aid for migrants being bused to the city.