Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has renewed her request for the National Guard to help deal with the influx of migrants being bused to the nation's capital by Texas and Arizona.
Bowser, a Democrat, announced her new request in a Thursday tweet. It came after the Defense Department rejected her initial request for National Guard help, saying the city has sufficient funding under the Federal Emergency Management Agency that has been given to nonprofits in D.C. that can provide shelter and services for the influx.
Bowser tweeted on Thursday: "We need help from our federal partners as we seek to stabilize and manage our operating environment in this critical moment. I have been honored to work with the men and women of the DC National Guard many times and today we renewed our request for their assistance."
She had asked the White House in July for an open-ended deployment of 150 National Guard members per day as well as a "suitable federal location" for a mass housing and processing center, mentioning the D.C. Armory as a logical candidate.
The crisis was sparked in the spring when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced plans to send busloads of migrants to Washington as a result of President Joe Biden's decision to lift a pandemic-era emergency health order that restricted migrant entry numbers.
In a Thursday letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Bowser officially renewed the request for help.
She wrote: "As mayor since 2015, I've requested D.C. National Guard support nearly 50 times – to support our COVID-19 response, major events, and severe weather.
"Each time, these operational, apolitical requests have been granted. I have been honored to work with these men and women to keep our nation's capital safe in times of great stress and I take very seriously my responsibility to honor their service with legitimate, on-mission request."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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