Washington. D.C. is Struggling with the Surge of Migrants

Migrants in Washington, D.C.Screenshot from Twitter

Yesterday was the first day of school in Washington, D.C. Summer is over for most children but a few may see their summer extended a few more days.

Administrators were not prepared to enroll migrant children who arrived from Texas to Washington, D.C. As the City was trying to find housing and employment for the migrants, someone may have dropped the ball in enrolling the children.

Then Mayor Muriel Bowser has been working with the Biden administration for humanitarian support since the arrival of migrants since it overruns the humanitarian assistance the city currently has. So far, the administration has denied supporting the city twice.

Bowser said:

“We’re dealing with a politically motivated emergency, and we think it can be a crisis in our city. That’s why we’ve asked for federal support.”

The mayor also announced enrolling migrant children in D.C. schools.

Mayor Bowser said:

"School aged children will go to school. That's the plan."

But some students may not start on day one since the school year is about to begin.

Language acquisition teacher Mariel Vallano said:

"Enrollment began just this week for these children. However, some of them have been living here since the first week of July. We are concerned they may not start school on time Monday to get all of their paperwork ready and vaccinations in order. We do really look forward to welcoming these kids into the schools, but we're concerned The District waited too long to start enrollment. We would like answers as to why it happened this way and we would like to push to get all students enrolled by Monday so they could start on time with their peers."

She added:

"The frustrating part is that The District government has known since that first family was placed that these families are here. We repeatedly heard from D.C. government officials that they are unaware of children needing to be enrolled. We heard this from the mayor's office, we heard this from other various agencies that they were not aware there were children residing in the district that needed to be enrolled in school."

Some migrants may stay in the D.C. area but others will move on. For those who want to move on, the Mayor commented:

“We are going to do everything we can for people going through our city to their final destinations.”

Some people don’t like what the mayor and governor are doing

Even though Mayor Bowser is trying to find suitable homes or provide for the migrants, there are still some who think she is not doing her best.

Ashley Tjhung with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network said:

“The mayor has done a bad job of responding to this situation. D.C. is a sanctuary city, which means that we welcome migrants and immigrants.”

The Network believes about 5,500 migrants have arrived in Washington, D.C.

Mayor Bowser is not the only one with critics. Texas Governor Greg Abbott also has some critics.

State Representative Chris Turner (D-Grand Prairie) said:

“Governor Abbott is not taking a serious approach to this issue.”

State Representative Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) said:

“His tactics are more about attention getting and not really trying to solve the problem.”

Governor Abbott is blaming President Biden for not stepping up to provide assistance.

How would you solve the migrant crisis?