PHOENIX — On Friday, The White House said the governors of Florida and Texas are acting like human traffickers after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis chartered two flights of migrants to Martha's Vineyard and Texas Governor Greg Abbott bused between 75 and 100 migrants to the home of Vice President Kamela Harris.
"The governor of California sent a letter to the Department of Justice saying you need to prosecute the Texas and Florida Governors and all I can say is I think his hair jell is interfering with his brain function," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.
In May, with assistance from the Regional Center for Border Health, Arizona began busing migrants to Washington D.C.
So far 50 busloads of migrants, 1,809 in all, have made the trip from Yuma to Washington D.C.'s Union Passenger Terminal which has cost the state $4 million.
"We can't get a phone call back from Secretary Mayorkas. Because we can't get President Biden or Vice President Harris to come visit the border we brought the border to them," Governor Doug Ducey said during an appearance at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service this week.
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, nearly 260,000 immigrants entered the U.S. illegally in the Yuma sector this year.
The migrants bused to the Nation's Capital make up a very small percentage of what Yuma deals with every day.
"What I would say to Mayor Bowser here in Washington D.C. is welcome to our world," the Governor told students.
The Governor's Office says 81% of immigrants transported by bus come from Columbia, Peru and Venezuela. Most of them want to go to New York, New Jersey or Florida.
Humanitarian groups in Arizona say the resettlement process can be done more efficiently in Arizona.
"We have agencies, we have shelters within our own state that are willing to step up. That have stepped up," said Fernando Quiroz of the Arizona-California Humanitarian Coalition.
Politics, however, is driving the immigration bus, putting the issue front and center as the November election comes into view.
Quiroz finds it ironic because he says most of the immigrants coming through Yuma want to go to Florida and Texas.
"If the funds are available and we're paying Arizona taxpayer dollars to do this," Quiroz said, "why are we not busing them to Florida, where a majority are going? Why are we not busing them to Texas where the majority of them want to go? It's to create controversy."
