The White House criticizes Texas for sending immigrants for Christmas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Monday accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of endangering lives after busloads of immigrants from Texas’ southwest border were dumped near the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C., on a cold Christmas Eve. .

Republican Abbott, a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policies, did not acknowledge the Christmas Eve vehicle shipment and his office has not claimed responsibility. President Joe Biden He is a democrat.

An estimated 110 to 130 immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, many of them families with children, have been loaded onto buses by Texas authorities, immigrant aid groups said Sunday, after the migrants arrived in the US capital.

“Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in sub-zero temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any federal or local authorities,” White House spokesman Abdullah Hassan said in a statement.

Hassan added, “Political games lead nowhere, and only endanger lives.”

Texas has bussed thousands of immigrants to Washington, New York and Chicago in a move some critics have called a political maneuver amid a national debate over high levels of arrivals along the US southern border.

Hassan said the Biden administration is ready to work with Democrats and Republicans to find solutions to the immigrant issue.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Kanishka Singh)