The Biden administration again denied Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request to deploy the D.C. National Guard to assist the thousands of migrants who are being sent to the city by charter bus by the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona.

In a letter to Bowser, DOD executive secretary Kelly Bulliner Holly says the nonprofits currently assisting migrants have the capacity to manage the current influx of migrants.  “The Department is conscious of concerns associated with introducing uninformed military forces or a military facility into the role of supporting a domestic migrant respite center, particularly for functions that put the [D.C. National Guard] members in direct contact with the migrants, such as feeding, transportation, reception, processing, and/or onward movement,” Holly writes. “DCNG has no specific experience in or training for this kind of mission or unique skills for providing facility management, feeding, sanitation, or ground support.”  

The DOD originally denied the mayor’s original request for National Guard assistance in late July. Bowser requested 150 guards people per day to assist the international nonprofit SAMU First Response, which receives federal dollars to offer temporary support to migrants bused to Union Station alongside local volunteers. She also requested the use of a federal location so nonprofit staff could move intake out of the station’s food court.

“We continue to be very focused on having the federal government do its part and take the lead in addressing what we see as a growing humanitarian crisis with people who are seeking asylum,” Bowser said at a July 28 press conference, where she announced her request.

Holly told Bowser the department could not fulfill the request earlier this month. Federal officials denied the request because D.C. has the ability to access federal funding to support migrants dropped off at Union Station – the D.C. government can apply to the same FEMA grant SAMU applied to. Officials also took issue with the mayor’s open-ended request.

On Aug. 11, Bowser made a new request to deploy guards people. This time she asked DOD to have guards people help D.C., including SAMU, establish and manage existing respite sites for migrants beginning Aug. 22, for at least 90 days. She also reiterated the need to use a federal location, such as the DC Armory, for intake.

“The Guard is uniquely resourced to provide emergency logistical support,” said Bowser in her letter to DOD, adding that the federal government has granted her request for National Guard support on nearly 50 other occasions.

In the most recent letter to Bowser, Holly expressed appreciation for revising the open-ended request. “Nonetheless, this adjustment does not mitigate the other substantial challenges the [D.C. National Guard] faces in meeting your request for support,” Holly writes.  She says the request would disrupt or even cancel military training in the fall, as well as reduce readiness to support future responses including weather disasters.

The mayor has to ask the federal government to activate her own city’s National Guard because D.C. is not a state; statehood advocates have tried to change this. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey deployed his state’s National Guard in response to the influx of migrants. “Arizona has called on the Biden admin since April 2021 to declare a national emergency and deploy the powers of the federal government. No response. So we deployed the National Guard on our own, with state resources,” he tweeted in response to Bowser’s request.

The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, a local group of volunteers that has welcomed and supported migrants since Texas first started sending buses in April, disapproved of Bowser’s request because they are concerned that activating the National Guard would militarize the humanitarian response. Notably, Migrants that DCist/WAMU interviewed in late July expressed appreciation for being welcomed by local volunteers instead of military officials as they had been in Texas.

The network of volunteers wanted the D.C. government to instead apply for the FEMA grant, as the city of San Antonio has to help process migrants crossing the Texas-Mexico border. The Washington Post editorial board made a similar recommendation. Meanwhile, Post columnist Colbert King, who is often critical of Bowser, agreed with her National Guard request, writing that guards people provided humanitarian relief to Gulf Coast communities impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network has been critical of the Bowser administration’s response to the several thousand migrants who have been bused to D.C. from Arizona and Texas. The mayor characterized the humanitarian crisis as a federal problem in need of a federal solution, which volunteers take issue with because 10-15% of migrants remain local. Volunteers and nonprofit staff of SAMU, as well as the local chapters of Catholic Charities and CARECEN, have largely supported migrants with shelter, food, transportation, and other essentials. Although, they said the current set up is unsustainable.

The Bowser administration has provided shelter to migrant families at hotels. The Office of the D.C. Attorney General also opened up a grant program to organizations supporting migrants; groups affiliated with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network say they are applying for local dollars.