Nonprofit staff and mutual aid volunteers arrived to Union Station on Thursday morning before sunrise to welcome and support migrants bused into D.C. by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. But instead of being dropped off at the station — as has been customary since the first drop off in April — roughly 100 migrants were dropped off more than four miles away at the official residence of Vice President Kamala Harris.

The two buses that arrived this morning carried 101 people in total, including families and children as young as a year old, according to Tatiana Laborde, the managing director of SAMU First Response, speaking to reporters just outside Harris’ U.S. Naval Observatory home. Her organization receives federal dollars to support migrants sent to D.C. by charter bus. Migrants have since been transported to respite centers.

Abbott has sent more than 10,000 migrants to D.C. since the spring to protest President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, which many have criticized as a political stunt and condemned the treatment of migrants as a ploy. Thursday’s drop-off appears to have marked a change in political strategy.

Abbott explained his rationale on Twitter and in a press release: “Our supposed Border Czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, has yet to even visit the border to see firsthand the impact of the open border policies she has helped implement, even going so far as to claim the border is ‘secure.’ Texas will continue sending migrants to sanctuary cities like Washington, D.C., until President Biden and Border Czar Harris step up and do their jobs to secure the border.”

The governor is likely referring to comments Harris made on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday about border security. “The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed,” Harris said, per the Texas Tribune.

Abbott’s office declined to say whether they’ll continue to send migrants to Union Station or pick new drop-off locations. Abbott has been joined by other Republican governors in sending migrants to the District, including Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also unexpectedly sent about 50 migrants via plane to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, yesterday. Abbott’s office told The Texas Tribune that the governor was not involved with those flights specifically, but had been in contact with DeSantis.

But the local nonprofit staff and mutual aid volunteers who have been welcoming migrants for months tell DCist/WAMU the move does not fundamentally change their operation of supporting the new arrivals. They’ll continue to do what they can to ensure migrants aren’t left abandoned in D.C., and pivot if they have to. Still, new drop-off locations complicate their efforts and could further confuse migrants who have come to expect to be welcomed by locals.

SAMU, as well as other nonprofits and the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, routinely meet bused migrants at Union Station to arrange aid including food, transportation, and shelter. Laborde said SAMU learns when bus drop-offs are set to take place based on “ongoing collaboration meetings with agencies in the border,” which does not include Abbott’s office. This morning, she learned of the new drop-off location from a story on Fox News.

“So this was as big a surprise to us as it has been for them,” Laborde said of SAMU’s border contacts.

“[Migrants] knew they were going to Washington, D.C. But, you know, if you look around, this is a residential neighborhood with very little space for them to move around. So they were very confused,” she continued. “Some of them got lost and we were able to catch them, thankfully. But they don’t understand that this is a political situation and they’re just grateful to be closer to wherever their final location is.”

Volunteers with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network also arrived to Harris’ home to support migrants Thursday morning. Madhvi Bahl of the Mutual Solidarity Aid Migrant Network and Sanctuary DMV told DCist/WAMU they learned of the drop-off from community members who alerted them based on news reports. Buses carrying migrants have occasionally been sent somewhere besides Union Station, Bahl said, but her organization is usually given a heads-up. When volunteers arrived to the new location on Thursday, they and SAMU arranged transportation for migrants to go to their respite centers.

“But in the end of the day, it doesn’t really change the work we do,” said Bahl, of Abbott’s latest switch-up. “Mutual aid is resilient and the community is strong and we were able to adapt within minutes of hearing about the change.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office declined to comment on Thursday’s events. The mayor declared a public emergency over the influx of migrants last week, and announced plans to send her people to welcome arrivals at Union Station through a new Office of Migrant Service. Changes to drop-off locations could complicate those efforts. Bowser has suggested communication between her office and Abbott’s is limited. “We have attempted communications with all of our counterparts in [Texas] emergency management and in the health and human services,” she said at a press conference last week. She declined to say whether she was in contact with Abbott’s office directly.

At least one Texas nonprofit that coordinates buses from Texas to D.C. is not aware of forthcoming changes to drop-off locations. Tiffany Burrow, director of the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition, told DCist/WAMU that all bus drop-offs are decided by Abbott, and that her organization, which arranges transportation for migrants, is not aware of any forthcoming changes to drop-offs to D.C. The buses that arrived to Harris’ home came from Del Rio and Eagle Pass, not Val Verde, but all the buses are managed by the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

Previously: 

Mayor Bowser Declares Emergency Over Migrant Busing, Creates New Office To Support New Arrivals

Inside The Local Mutual Aid Effort Supporting The Migrants Texas Bused To D.C.