The U.S. Department of Defense has denied D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request for National Guard support to aid migrants who are being bused to D.C. by Republican governors.

NBC 4 first reported the news.

According to a letter sent from DOD to D.C.’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA), the department claimed that D.C. has enough federal emergency dollars to support a local response without the aid of the National Guard. (Spokespeople for the DOD did not immediately return DCist/WAMU’s request for comment. A spokesperson with D.C.’s HSEMA did not provide DCist/WAMU with a copy of the letter, and directed DCist/WAMU to DOD for comment.)

Bowser made the request on July 19, after activists and mutual aid volunteers criticized the mayor’s response to the buses of migrants who have been arriving in D.C. from Texas and Arizona over the past several months, saying her support for them is insufficient. Because D.C. is not a state, control of the city’s National Guard largely lies in federal hands: Bowser needed the approval of the U.S. Secretary of the Army to deploy the troops. Local leaders have tried and failed to gain control of the National Guard over the years. In July, a bill that would do so passed the House, and waits approval by the Senate.

In her letter to the Office of the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Bowser asked for 150 national guardsmen per day to help the the nonprofit SAMU First Response, which receives federal dollars and has been helping the thousands of migrants arriving at Union Station, along with local volunteers. She also requested the use of a federal location in D.C. where SAMU could provide immediate assistance, as well as transportation.

“We have determined providing this support would negatively impact the readiness of the [D.C. National Guard] and members,” reads the letter, per FOX 5. “We understand SAMU First Response has received grant funding through FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program [EFSP], and has indicated that sufficinet EFSP funds exist at this point to provide migrant assistance. ”

Speaking at a press conference on Friday regarding the police killing of Kevin Hargraves-Shird, Bowser said she had briefly reviewed the letter, and may send an amended request with more “specific parameters.”

“The Department of Defense highlighted a number of concerns about the open-ended nature of our request, in the their ability to respond to it,” Bowser said. “We want to continue to work with the Department of Defense so that they understand our operational needs, and to assure that any political considerations are not a part of their decision.” 

She went on to defend the requests she made in her initial letter, and denied any suggestions that the city was overwhelmed or unequipped to handle the situation.

“I’m not talking about anything that is political in nature as it relates to how I operate the District’s homeless services system … I have done — regardless of Republicans in Texas or Democrats on Pennsylvania Avenue — what I need to do to run the city,” Bowser said. “We really need federal coordination, or if the federal government’s not going to do it, they need to at least to get out of our way and give us the resources that we need, in our National Guard and a site.”

The DOD denial marks yet another volley between the federal government and local officials, who have been pointing fingers over who is responsible for addressing what Bowser has called “a growing humanitarian crisis.” D.C. officials believe the issue to be a federal one, that necessitates federal dollars; Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey are busing individuals to the city in response to President Joe Biden’s immigration policies. In the absence of any government response — neither federal nor local — local volunteers and mutual aid organizers have taken the lead on supporting and responding to the migrants’ arrival over the past several months, now stretched thin for resources.

Her request was criticized by local volunteers, like those with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, who said that deploying a militarized force in response to the mirgants’ arrival could only further traumatize individuals, who have also dealt with a militarized response in Texas or Arizona. Instead, advocates have suggested that D.C. should apply for a federal grant, like one that SAMU has, and use the dollars to bolster a local humanitarian support network. As more buses arrive consistently in the city, some individuals have been sleeping in hotels or on streets, according to NBC 4 reporting, with the city’s low-barrier homeless shelters at capacity.

Previously:
Mayor Bowser Requests D.C. National Guard To Support Migrants Being Bused Into Union Station
Local Organizers Say Bowser Administration Is Failing Migrants Being Bused To D.C.
Inside The Local Mutual Aid Effort Supporting The Migrants Texas Bused To D.C.