Abbott invites mayors of DC, New York to visit southern border

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has invited New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to visit the state’s border with Mexico in a move he says would allow the mayors of the two major cities to get a firsthand view of the humanitarian crisis there.

“As law enforcement agents along the Texas-Mexico border respond to thousands of illegal crossings each and every day, putting their lives on the line for Texans and for all Americans, the crisis demands the attention of not only the Biden Administration, which is responsible for securing the border, but of leaders across the country,” he wrote in the letter to the mayors dated Monday.

“As Governor, I invite you to visit our border region to see firsthand the dire situation that only grows more urgent with each passing day, and to meet with the local officials, who like yourselves, realize this matter deserves immediate federal action.”

Abbott said President Biden “created” the crisis, noting that without federal action, the state spent more than $3 billion in the past 18 months in an effort to “curtail the devastation felt by our communities large and small.”

He told the mayors that their interest in the border crisis is a “welcome development,” adding that the Biden administration has “shown no remorse for their actions nor desire to address the situation themselves.”

“As Governor of a southern border state, I have watched illegal crossings hit record highs over and over again since President Biden took office,” Abbott wrote. “In the absence of federal action, I have deployed unprecedented resources to prevent, deter, and interdict illegal immigration and transnational criminal activity that threatens our citizens.”

His invitation to Adams and Bowser comes after the two high-profile mayors called on the Biden administration to help with an influx of asylum-seeking migrants.

Last week, Bowser asked the D.C. National Guard to activate and help manage the migrants entering the city.

Their requests for action come after Abbott, as well as Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), sent nearly 200 buses carrying more than 4,000 migrants from the southern border to the capital in protest of Biden’s immigration policy. The migrants would have otherwise been released into small border communities with more limited resources than D.C., according to a press release from Abbott’s office.