Councilwoman Who Touted DC’s Sanctuary Status Complains Illegal Immigrants Are Turning Capital Into ‘Border Town’

A councilwoman who had touted the District of Columbia’s status as a “sanctuary city” complained about migrants bused from Texas and Arizona during a Thursday press conference.

“The governors of Texas and Arizona have created this crisis. And the federal government has not stepped up to assist the District of Columbia, so we, along with our regional partners, we’ll do what we’ve always done. We’ll rise to the occasion,” Democratic Councilwoman Brianne Nadeau of Washington, D.C., said during a press event where Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser declared the event a public health emergency.

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Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas began busing migrants to D.C. in April and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey startedbusing migrants in May. The migrants bused to D.C. told the Daily Caller News Foundation that they went voluntarily and denied that they were “tricked” into making the trip.

“We’ve learned from border towns like El Paso and Brownsville and in many ways, the governors of Texas and Arizona have turned us into a border town. We don’t know how long this will take to resolve,” Nadeau continued. “We don’t know how long they will continue busing, and so the right thing to do here is to be prepared to ensure we can greet every bus, we can get people off on the right foot, we can get them where they want to go, and that will ultimately help them in their immigration process.”

Officials and residents on the southern border expressed frustration with the criticism of Democratic big city mayors like Bowser.

“They’re seeing a small portion, they’re overwhelmed. And the initial overwhelming starts here, but they’re just seeing a piece of it because they’re going throughout the United States. But no, it’s not the governor of Texas doing this to them, they’re gonna be going there regardless,” Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland told the DCNF in July.

Abbott, Ducey and Nadeau did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.

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