Washington, D.C., will begin offering financial assistance to local organizations that are providing resources to migrants bused to the district from border states, according to an initiative unveiled by the city attorney general Thursday.
Under the newly announced program, the district’s Office of the Attorney General will offer grants to local humanitarian groups to help cover the costs of housing, food, clothing, transportation, and legal assistance being offered to migrants as they await processing in the district. More than 6,000 migrants have been transported to Washington from Arizona and Texas as the governors of those states protest what they claim is the Biden administration’s refusal to acknowledge a border crisis.
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“The decision by the Governors of Texas and Arizona to bus asylum-seeking migrants to the District is causing a humanitarian crisis,” said Attorney General Karl Racine. “The organizations and individuals who have shouldered the burden of providing basic needs and services, including housing, food, transportation, and legal assistance, are understandably strained and simply cannot be expected to carry this responsibility alone.”
The grant program will set aside $150,000 to be available to local nonprofit organizations, allocating up to $50,000 per organization that must be spent within the next two months. The funding will be provided through the OAG’s Litigation Support Fund, which allows the attorney general to issue grants to organizations that seek to protect public safety or vulnerable communities in the city.
The announcement comes nearly a week after the Defense Department rejected a request from Mayor Muriel Bowser to activate the National Guard to provide assistance. The attorney general criticized the “absence of an effective and coordinated city strategy.”
Bowser’s request was rejected in part because the city already had sufficient funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that could be used to shelter the immigrants and provide necessary resources, the department told the Washington Examiner last week. The mayor had requested the district’s National Guard to be activated indefinitely to help respond to the influx of migrants being transported to the district, arguing that it is a federal issue rather than a local one.
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Bowser has decried Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiatives to send migrants to Washington, claiming that the migrants are being “tricked” into traveling farther away from their intended destinations. Local organizations have criticized Bowser’s comments, claiming that several migrants plan to stay in the Washington, D.C., area but are being denied access to city resources.
“About 10% of migrants arriving choose to stay in the DC region. Some of the families choosing to resettle permanently in DC have attempted to access the District’s family shelter system. Instead of receiving the care and services legally afforded to homeless families in DC, the DC Department of Human Services is actively attempting to keep migrant families out of the shelter system,” Sanctuary DMV, a nonprofit organization that provides resources to immigrants in the area, said in a statement. “The migrant families affected feel stranded and neglected by their treatment from the DC government due to the lack of communication and services from staff.”
Applicants seeking financial assistance under the attorney general’s program must provide a work proposal that details the provided services and resources in order to be considered. These applications are due by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.
