The spokesperson for Greg Abbott has attacked the Biden administration as the Texas governor was widely criticized after a busload of immigrants were dropped off in Washington, D.C. in freezing weather.
In a statement to news outlets, Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze defended the move to transport dozens of migrants from Texas to outside the home of Vice President Kamala Harris on the night of Christmas Eve. The migrants, some of whom were children or dressed in just T-shirts, were eventually sent to a nearby shelter for assistance.
It is widely believed that Abbott, who along with other Republican governors such as Florida's Ron DeSantis, has been sending migrants to Democratic-led cities for months, was behind the Christmas stunt.
In her statement appearing to confirm Abbott's involvement, Eze attacked Biden and Harris over their immigration policies and claimed that the migrants "willingly" chose to go to D.C. on Saturday.
"The White House is full of a bunch of hypocrites, led by the Hypocrite-in-Chief who has been flying planeloads of migrants across the country and oftentimes in the cover of night," Eze said.
"These migrants willingly chose to go to Washington, D.C., having signed a voluntary consent waiver available in multiple languages upon boarding that they agreed on the destination. And they were processed and released by the federal government, who are dumping them at historic levels in Texas border towns like El Paso, which recently declared a state of emergency because of the Biden-made crisis.
"Instead of their hypocritical complaints about Texas providing much-needed relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities, President Biden and Border Czar Harris need to step up and do their jobs to secure the border—something they continue failing to do," Eze added.
White House spokesperson Abdullah Hasan criticized Abbott for having "abandoned children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures" on Christmas Eve.
Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro also condemned "worthless" Abbott for dropping the migrants off outside Harris' home in freezing temperatures.
"How Christian of you, Greg Abbott. Being a heartless POS isn't going to make you the next Republican President," Castro tweeted.
Abbott was further criticized for tweeting out a Christmas Day message complete with a Bible verse one day after sending the migrants to Washington.
"There's nothing Christian or loving about stunts like this, Greg. In fact, it's more like Herod than anything else in the Christmas story. I feel sick," Twitter user Michael Asbell wrote in response.
The migrants arrived in D.C. days after Abbott wrote a letter to Biden demanding that the president "immediately deploy federal assets" to address the situation at the border.
"Texas has borne a lopsided burden caused by your open border policies," Abbott wrote. "The need to address this crisis is not the job of border states like Texas. Instead, the U.S. Constitution dictates that it is your job, Mr. President, to defend the borders of our country, regulate our nation's immigration, and manage those who seek refuge here."
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
