--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Noelle King: The governors of Texas and Arizona, Greg Abbott and Doug Ducey, are spending millions of dollars to make a point. There are too many migrants arriving in their towns and cities, they say. They can't handle all of them. And so...
--:-- Halima Shah: We're sending the border to Biden and his administration so they can begin to grapple with the challenges that we're dealing with.
--:-- Noelle King: They're giving recent arrivals free bus tickets and sending them to points north. Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York. This has caused some amount of chaos for those cities and for the new arrivals.
--:-- Halima Shah: And just last week, it forced Washington, D.C.'s mayor Muriel Bowser to declare a public emergency and to create an office for migrant affairs, which is something much more commonly seen in places like San Antonio and San Diego near the border.
--:-- Noelle King: We're not a border town. And so what we're doing today is a new normal for us. We have to have an infrastructure in place that allows us to deal with the border crisis that has visited us in Washington, D.C.
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--:-- Halima Shah: A powerful data structure adapts to your business model, sinks in all your contacts in minutes, and enriches your business with actionable data.
--:-- Noelle King: Adio says it also allows you to create those email sequences, those real-time reports, those powerful automations. which they claim can help you build what matters most, your company.
--:-- Halima Shah: You can go to adio.com slash todayexplained to get 15% off your first year. That's A-T-T-I-O dot com slash todayexplained.
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--:-- Noelle King: Support for this show comes from Macy's. Layering is an art form. All it takes is a bit of intention, style, and of course, the perfect cold weather staples.
--:-- Halima Shah: So find the perfect look for you with the help of Macy's Fall Fashion Guide, your one-stop shop for fall's latest trends and must-haves, curated by their experts.
--:-- Noelle King: From leather to denim to cozy knits, find everything you need to piece together your new fall look. Explore the Macy's Fall Guide for yourself and shop in-store or online at Macy's.com.
--:-- Halima Shah: It's Today Explained. I'm Noelle King.
--:-- Halima Shah: Halima Shah, Today Explained senior reporter and producer, you went looking into the reasons that Governors Abbott and Ducey are doing this. What is happening? They say they don't like Joe Biden's immigration policies, and so they're basically trying to stick it to him.
--:-- Noelle King: The Biden administration has been dumping off these migrants by the hundreds in local communities that do not have the ability to take care or deal with these migrants that are being dropped off.
--:-- Halima Shah: They claim Biden has an open border policy that's causing chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border. There definitely isn't an open border policy, but the Biden administration does want to lift Title 42.
--:-- Halima Shah: And this is the public health order that went into effect under President Trump. And it allows border officials to turn migrants, including those who say they want asylum, away in the name of COVID-19 precautions.
--:-- Halima Shah: And since it went into effect two years ago, there have been over a million migrant expulsions. So if Biden lifts that policy, which Republicans really don't want him to do, officials would lose the legal justification to send migrants back to Mexico or their home countries.
--:-- Halima Shah: And there could be a big increase in arrivals at the border. You went to see some of these arrivals, the buses coming into D.C., the people getting off of them. What does it look like?
--:-- Halima Shah: On a Thursday morning at about 6 a.m., I saw this huge coach bus that said wind transportation pull into a parking lot in front of Union Station right across from the Capitol building.
--:-- Halima Shah: When the bus stopped, I saw about 50 people get off, and then the bus pulled away almost as quickly as it had arrived.
--:-- Halima Shah: The people I saw were mostly single men and boys who got off. There were some women and families who had children and babies.
--:-- Halima Shah: I even saw somebody, you know, snap a picture of the Capitol on their phone. No one there really had that much.
--:-- Halima Shah: At the most, I saw somebody with a clear plastic bag. It held one of those emergency silver thermal blankets and a snack.
--:-- Halima Shah: How are you?
--:-- Halima Shah: And this is right near the U.S. Capitol. Who's there to greet them? Are there government representatives?
--:-- Halima Shah: No, I mainly met community volunteers. And the groups at the forefront of this have been the Migrant, Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, and another group called Sanctuary DMV.
--:-- Halima Shah: But what I saw last month could change now that the mayor has declared a public emergency and pledged more support from the city.
--:-- Halima Shah: Because as migrants arrived, the closest thing I saw to government presence were workers from the emergency relief nonprofit called SAMU, which has a FEMA grant.
--:-- Halima Shah: After greeting the migrants, I saw a SAMU worker ask the group if they were planning to travel beyond D.C.
--:-- Halima Shah: Almost everyone raised their hand. That's pretty typical.
--:-- Halima Shah: Only 10 to 15 percent of the migrants that actually arrive in D.C. stay here. That's what the volunteers told me.
--:-- Halima Shah: And then I saw a second bus arrive. About 30 more people got off.
--:-- Halima Shah: They just arrived, so what we do here is welcoming them.
--:-- Halima Shah: This is Diana Fula. She works with a local immigrant nonprofit and volunteers here.
--:-- Diana Fula: We're going to try to get to the church where they can change if we have some clothes and shoes.
--:-- Halima Shah: We will have, like, food for them so they can eat something and rest a little bit.
--:-- Halima Shah: And then we're going to do, like, the... Volunteers almost immediately started counting off migrants and organizing them into cars or vans to get to a nearby church.
--:-- Halima Shah: They are coming with me because I have four spots on my car.
--:-- Halima Shah: We're trying to give priority to families and kids. to use our cars.
--:-- Halima Shah: And there is another group that is going to walk, like 20, 30 minutes from here walking.
--:-- Halima Shah: What's it like inside the church where Diana's bringing them?
--:-- Halima Shah: The migrants are basically sent into the church basement
--:-- Halima Shah: And inside the basement there are bins of donated clothing for kids for adults and there also diapers and toiletries
--:-- Halima Shah: There also a hot breakfast waiting for them
--:-- Halima Shah: There's now 80 migrants here, and most of them have not had a hot meal since they got on to the bus.
--:-- Halima Shah: Jessica, who is a volunteer that you heard welcoming the migrants outside the bus, and she
--:-- Halima Shah: She said it's really hard to know how many migrants to prepare breakfast for because the numbers are always changing.
--:-- Halima Shah: We never know exactly how many people will come because they're allowed to get off once they leave the state of Texas.
--:-- Halima Shah: And so they can get off a different spot. So sometimes the numbers are different than what we expect.
--:-- Halima Shah: We had people arrive last night. It was only 19 on the bus.
--:-- Halima Shah: The most I've seen is six buses in a 24-hour period.
--:-- Halima Shah: How do you know a bus is coming in?
--:-- Halima Shah: We have contact with some organizations where someone gives us a little information.
--:-- Halima Shah: And the frustrating thing is it's like the design of this is that they won't tell us officially.
--:-- Halima Shah: And so that is not an accident. You know, they're trying to create chaos here to prove a political point.
--:-- Halima Shah: So we get a little bit of information fed to us, but not through official channels.
--:-- Halima Shah: So after getting a hot meal and their essentials, migrants can kind of get onto the Wi-Fi here at the church and call home.
--:-- Halima Shah: They can talk to volunteers about getting a train ticket to their final destination, a place that they actually have friends and family waiting for them.
--:-- Halima Shah: When things finally settled down, I was able to talk to a family of four that was at the church.
--:-- Halima Shah: There's a dad, the mom, their daughter, and their two-year-old.
--:-- Halima Shah: Their journey started in Colombia, and they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border less than a week earlier, and this is why they decided to get on the bus from Texas.
--:-- Halima Shah: Jamie said they have friends in New York who are going to give the family a place to stay till they get on their feet.
--:-- Halima Shah: It's good that they have a place to go.
--:-- Halima Shah: How was their journey from Colombia to the U.S.?
--:-- Halima Shah: It was very difficult.
--:-- Halima Shah: Carlos said the hardest part of the journey was actually in Mexico because the country's military is really cracking down on migrants.
--:-- Halima Shah: He even took his shoe off and showed it to me and I saw that the side of his foot and heel had turned blue and purple.
--:-- Halima Shah: I think it was because of the walking, because of walking so much.
--:-- Halima Shah: Since I would keep walking with my swollen feet, they would get worse.
--:-- Halima Shah: In fact, my other foot is the same.
--:-- Halima Shah: There is often a need for medical care when migrants arrive in D.C., and that's something the new Office of Migrant Services is supposed to provide.
--:-- Halima Shah: I also asked the family why they're seeking asylum, And Carlos said they received some kind of threat from an armed group when they were living in Colombia.
--:-- Halima Shah: Are most of the people you met coming from Colombia or are they coming from all over Central and South America?
--:-- Halima Shah: The largest group is actually from Venezuela.
--:-- Halima Shah: There are people coming from Colombia as well as Cuba and Nicaragua.
--:-- Halima Shah: So this wave of migration is actually not from Central America as we saw in past waves.
--:-- Halima Shah: Most of these people are coming from South America and the Caribbean, which means that their journeys are longer and harder.
--:-- Halima Shah: And when they get here, their immigration status is uncertain.
--:-- Halima Shah: They want asylum and they've been admitted to the U.S.
--:-- Halima Shah: But at some point in the next few years, they're going to have to stand before an immigration judge and make the case that they should not be sent back home.
--:-- Halima Shah: Do the migrants coming in on the buses understand what the governors of Texas and Arizona are doing?
--:-- Halima Shah: There's been a lot of reporting on this, and a lot of people feel like the state of Texas has been so generous to them by giving them this free ride to the East Coast where they have family or friends.
--:-- Halima Shah: The migrants I spoke to, once they've spent a little bit of time in D.C., have talked to the volunteers, then they start to understand that they're basically being shipped to another part of the country because the governor of Texas doesn't want them there.
--:-- Halima Shah: So the target of this is President Biden. Governor Abbott has made that clear.
--:-- Halima Shah: Has Biden said anything at all?
--:-- Halima Shah: I did reach out to the White House for comment, and a spokesman, Abdullah Hassan, said this in a written statement.
--:-- Abdullah Hassan: As we have said repeatedly, there is a process in place to manage migrants at the border.
--:-- Abdullah Hassan: And Republican governors meddling in that process and using desperate migrants as political tools is shameful and it is wrong.
--:-- Abdullah Hassan: He added that the White House will continue to support migrants by giving FEMA grants to cities.
--:-- Halima Shah: But it's really been the mayors of D.C. and New York City who've gotten into a public war of words with Abbott.
--:-- Halima Shah: It's unimaginable that what the governor of Texas has done, when you think about this country, a country that has always been open to those who were fleeing persecution.
--:-- Halima Shah: And for months, the mayors have said that they are overburdened and want more involvement from the federal government.
--:-- Halima Shah: Now, mayors do a lot of things, but we are not responsible for a broken immigration system.
--:-- Halima Shah: What we need in this country is we need the Congress to do its job and fix this immigration system.
--:-- Halima Shah: Now, both Democrat mayors and Republican governors are telling the federal government that they've left them holding the bag on immigration.
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--:-- Noelle King: Support for Today Explained comes from Chime. Nobody likes fees and complicated banking, says Chime.
--:-- Halima Shah: And Chime gets that, says Chime.
--:-- Halima Shah: Chime is a financial technology company that says they understand that every dollar counts.
--:-- Halima Shah: So when you set up direct deposit through Chime, they say you get access to fee-free features, such as free overdraft coverage, getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit, so much more.
--:-- Halima Shah: Chime says with qualifying direct deposits, you can be eligible for free overdraft, up to $200 on debit card purchases and cash withdrawals.
--:-- Halima Shah: Plus, they say you don't need to worry about monthly fees or maintenance fees.
--:-- Halima Shah: You can work on your financial goals through Chime today.
--:-- Halima Shah: You can open an account in two minutes at Chime.com slash explained.
--:-- Halima Shah: That's Chime.com slash explained.
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--:-- Noelle King: Are you happy with your job? Like really happy?
--:-- Halima Shah: The unfortunate fact is that a huge number of people can't say yes to that.
--:-- Halima Shah: Far too many of us are stuck in a job we've outgrown, or one we never wanted in the first place.
--:-- Halima Shah: But still, we stick it out.
--:-- Halima Shah: And we give reasons like, what if the next move is even worse?
--:-- Halima Shah: I've already put years into this place.
--:-- Halima Shah: And maybe the most common one, isn't everyone kind of miserable at work?
--:-- Halima Shah: But there's a difference between reasons for staying and excuses for not leaving.
--:-- Halima Shah: It's time to get unstuck.
--:-- Halima Shah: It's time for Strawberry.me.
--:-- Halima Shah: They match you with a certified career coach who helps you go from where you are to where you actually want to be.
--:-- Halima Shah: Your coach helps you get clear on your goals, create a plan, build your confidence, and keeps you accountable along the way.
--:-- Halima Shah: So don't leave your career to chance.
--:-- Halima Shah: Take action and own your future with a professional coach in your corner.
--:-- Halima Shah: Go to strawberry.me slash unstuck to claim a special offer.
--:-- Halima Shah: That's strawberry.me slash unstuck.
--:-- Halima Shah: It's Today Explained. I'm Noelle King.
--:-- Halima Shah: Halima Shah, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, is trying to make a point.
--:-- Halima Shah: He says that border towns and cities are overburdened by the arrival of migrants and that the federal government needs to do more, which raises a question that comes up a lot.
--:-- Halima Shah: Is the situation at the border today really any different than the one we've seen over the last years or even decades?
--:-- Halima Shah: If you consider the U.S.-Mexico border, it is true that there is a record number of attempts to cross this year.
--:-- Halima Shah: The U.S.-Mexico border and the capacity of DHS and CEP and ICE and other agencies at the border has been overwhelmed.
--:-- Halima Shah: This is Ariel Ruiz Soto, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: After we saw a decrease in 2020 from pandemic mobility restrictions, we're now beginning to see an increase again of numbers.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: There have been about 1.9 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: An encounter means the number of times U.S. Customs and Border Protection observes people trying to enter the U.S.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: But that 1.9 million number, as high as it sounds, has a huge caveat.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: Many of them include repeated attempts to migrate.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: In other words, there aren't 1.9 million people trying to cross the border.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: There's 1.9 million attempts, sometimes by the same people.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: So Title 42, that pandemic public health order we talked about, since it went into effect, the U.S. isn't detaining migrants for long periods of time when they attempt to enter illegally.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: It instead just pushes them back across the border.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: So say you're a person who has made this desperate attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border before.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: You were pushed back, and now you've been stuck in a squalid camp or shelter in Mexico for months.
--:-- Ariel Ruiz Soto: You might try to cross again a second time, a third time, maybe even a fourth time.
--:-- Halima Shah: Okay, so Greg Abbott and Doug Ducey put people on buses.
--:-- Halima Shah: That forces D.C. and these other cities into difficult positions.
--:-- Halima Shah: D.C. then did what and does what?
--:-- Halima Shah: Well, for five straight months, D.C. got a lot of flack from volunteers.
--:-- Halima Shah: Who are relying on private donations to feed and shelter migrants.
--:-- Halima Shah: But we're starting to see more action now.
--:-- Halima Shah: The attorney general announced a $150,000 fund that groups supporting migrants can apply to for financial assistance.
--:-- Halima Shah: But it's the emergency announcement from Mayor Bowser on Thursday that got the most attention.
--:-- Halima Shah: The district is going to allocate $10 million for an office of migrant services.
--:-- Halima Shah: And they said they will seek reimbursement from the federal government for that.
--:-- Muriel Bowser: I am creating, establishing a new office within the Department of Human Services called the Office of Migrant Services.
--:-- Muriel Bowser: This new office will, as I said, be housed in DHS, and it will help us tailor our needs for migrants to provide reception services, or reps, spit services, meals, transportation, urgent medical needs, transportation to connect people to resettlement services and the like.
--:-- Muriel Bowser: The mayor said in a press conference that the office is going to start operating, quote, soon, but it's really not clear when soon is.
--:-- Halima Shah: To volunteers, this should have happened a long time ago, in part because only 10 to 15 percent of the almost 9,000 migrants who are on these buses bound for D.C. actually stay in D.C.
--:-- Halima Shah: So 10 to 15 percent of 9,000 is less than 1,400 people.
--:-- Halima Shah: In total, those numbers are not significantly high.
--:-- Halima Shah: You would expect that New York City, as well as in D.C., even though smaller, that both of those cities would be able to absorb this number of migrants and integrate and provide services for them rather easily.
--:-- Halima Shah: I met two people who you could say are the reason Bowser had to act.
--:-- Halima Shah: They arrived in D.C. a few months ago after a really difficult journey from Cuba.
--:-- Halima Shah: Ana and Antonio aren't using their real names while their immigration status is still to be determined.
--:-- Halima Shah: They're a young couple, 28 and 30 years old, and their baby is only 13 weeks.
--:-- Ana: Were you pregnant when you were making the journey to the U.S.?
--:-- Ana: Well, I just recently found out that I was pregnant when I left Cuba.
--:-- Ana: I left in January, and I spent the entire journey with my belly growing.
--:-- Ana: By the time I got to the border, I was already eight months pregnant, ready to give birth.
--:-- Halima Shah: So they made the journey to the U.S. by flying to Nicaragua, then by walking and taking a series of buses to the U.S.-Mexico border.
--:-- Halima Shah: It was the only option we had.
--:-- Halima Shah: Every time I talk about this, it makes me cry.
--:-- Halima Shah: Because it was hard.
--:-- Halima Shah: Our journey was hard.
--:-- Halima Shah: But here we are in the land of opportunity, and we want to get ahead.
--:-- Halima Shah: They didn't have any connections in the U.S.
--:-- Halima Shah: They didn't know where to go.
--:-- Halima Shah: So when they found out that there was this free bus that would take them to the capital, it meant they could land somewhere that wasn't the border.
--:-- Halima Shah: So they took the opportunity
--:-- Halima Shah: I was in the group that received the message that there this couple with a pregnant wife
--:-- Halima Shah: This is Mara.
--:-- Mara: I'm not even Christian, but all I could think about was the nativity story and how there was no room at the inn for this eight-month pregnant woman.
--:-- Mara: And I just knew that they were going to be mine.
--:-- Mara: Then I would make sure that there is room at this inn.
--:-- Halima Shah: The inn that Mara is talking about is her apartment.
--:-- Halima Shah: We are four adults in one house.
--:-- Halima Shah: And it's just a two-bedroom, one bathroom, so it gets a little full.
--:-- Halima Shah: Mara's got her room.
--:-- Halima Shah: And then we have my guest room.
--:-- Halima Shah: We've got our crib in here.
--:-- Halima Shah: We've got a big recliner chair that is great for mama breastfeeding.
--:-- Halima Shah: The guest room is for mom, dad, and baby.
--:-- Halima Shah: And the couch downstairs is for their friend.
--:-- Halima Shah: My name is Jose Manuel.
--:-- Jose Manuel: Jose Manuel is not his real name either.
--:-- Halima Shah: The couple says that Jose Manuel is like a brother to them.
--:-- Halima Shah: He arrived in D.C. shortly after they did, and after finding housing with Mara and being welcomed by volunteers, the city has really left a mark on him.
--:-- Halima Shah: And he's going to stick around until his case is adjudicated, which will take at least two years.
--:-- Halima Shah: He'll need a job, but he can't do that until he gets a work permit.
--:-- Halima Shah: The first thing I would want is a work permit for them to help me get work, to guide me to my destiny.
--:-- Halima Shah: Their other big order of business is going to be staying on top of their immigration cases.
--:-- Halima Shah: The hard work for them is not over just because, you know, they've made it through the interior of the country.
--:-- Halima Shah: There is a false sense of relief for many of the migrants who are arriving in New York City and Washington, D.C., because a lot of what still is going to continue for them is to ensure that they actually attend their court hearings to seek asylum.
--:-- Halima Shah: Basically, migrants are responsible for keeping the courts updated about where they're moving.
--:-- Halima Shah: If they don't tell the courts that they have moved from Texas to the East Coast, they might still be expected in a Texas court.
--:-- Halima Shah: And it's on them to arrange for a hearing that's somewhere closer.
--:-- Halima Shah: The worst case scenario is if somebody who is coming on these buses had originally a court hearing in Houston and ends up being in New York City but doesn't find out about their court hearing and then they unfortunately will miss it, they will then be considered removal in absentia because they did not show up to their court.
--:-- Halima Shah: In other words, they can be deported.
--:-- Halima Shah: What is the best case scenario for Ana and Antonio and Jose Manuel?
--:-- Halima Shah: Going to immigration court on the East Coast could actually yield favorable results for them.
--:-- Halima Shah: They actually may have a better chance of receiving a protection status, either by refugee or through asylum, if they go to a court in New York State or New York City, for example.
--:-- Halima Shah: They tend to have larger approval ratings than in Texas or other states along the U.S.-Mexico border.
--:-- Halima Shah: But more broadly, this could also be a chance for the Biden administration to implement that orderly, humane policy that they've been talking about.
--:-- Halima Shah: The administration says it wants a whole-of-government approach where it will work with nonprofits, state and local governments, to address migration flows.
--:-- Halima Shah: There are states out there that could be interested in receiving migrants and refugees because they've actually done it before.
--:-- Halima Shah: We're talking states like California, Texas, Oregon.
--:-- Halima Shah: Usually the West Coast has done this for Ukrainians and for Afghan refugees that it could be doable and possible in the future to see this as a potential mechanism of assistance instead as one that has so many logistical barriers.
--:-- Halima Shah: I mean, that would be a terrific outcome for everybody involved here.
--:-- Halima Shah: If states are if states are saying we would like to take these people in, how likely is that to happen?
--:-- Halima Shah: It's a matter of whether or not there's the political will to make this happen.
--:-- Halima Shah: There is a midterm election around the corner, and a poll shows that about half of Americans believe it's somewhat or completely true that there's an invasion at the border.
--:-- Halima Shah: So if the Biden administration decides that this is not a winning issue for them and doesn't act, and if Governor Abbott is reelected for a third term, this will probably keep happening.
--:-- Halima Shah: Abbott has said this will keep happening, and we're seeing that play out.
--:-- Halima Shah: I mean, just last week, migrant buses started arriving in Chicago.
--:-- Halima Shah: But regardless of how the government responds, volunteers are planning to continue being there for migrants.
--:-- Halima Shah: If you look at the lives of people like Ana, Antonio, and Jose Manuel, it's very intertwined with Mara's now.
--:-- Halima Shah: They are helping me just as much as I'm helping them.
--:-- Halima Shah: Cooking dinner every night is a great example of that.
--:-- Halima Shah: But also, they worry about me.
--:-- Halima Shah: They ask me if I'm okay.
--:-- Halima Shah: This is not a charity situation.
--:-- Halima Shah: This is humans being with other humans and taking care of each other.
--:-- Halima Shah: And remember I mentioned that Ana and Antonio have a baby?
--:-- Halima Shah: That baby was born in the United States.
--:-- Halima Shah: She's American.
--:-- Halima Shah: Her parents said they want her to go to school here.
--:-- Halima Shah: They want her to go to college here.
--:-- Halima Shah: So even though Ana and Antonio's future is really uncertain in the U.S., they are really hopeful for their child's.
--:-- Halima Shah: Today explains senior producer and reporter Halima Shah.
--:-- Noelle King: Thanks, Halima.
--:-- Halima Shah: Thank you, Noelle.
--:-- Halima Shah: Today's episode was reported and produced by Halima Shah.
--:-- Halima Shah: It was edited by Matthew Collette and fact-checked by Tori Dominguez and Serena Solon.
--:-- Halima Shah: It was engineered by Afim Shapiro and Paul Robert Mounsey.
--:-- Halima Shah: Special thanks to Claudia Hernandez and Diana Fula, who provided interpretation.
--:-- Halima Shah: It's Today Explained.
--:-- Halima Shah: I'm Noelle King.
--:-- Halima Shah: Thank you.
--:-- [Theme music fades in]
