“We have a secure border,” Vice President Kamala Harris insisted in a TV interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

That assessment didn’t go well, and a few days later, 100 migrants were dropped off, like a sack of potatoes, outside her official residence at the Naval Observatory, challenging her statement.

“It is open, not closed. The border is open,” insisted one man, who was among the migrants dropped off by two buses from Texas, to Fox News. “Everybody believes that the border is open,” he said. “It is open because we enter. We come in free, no problem. We came illegally, not legally.”

The migrants were a present, or more likely a political stunt to get attention, sent from Eagle Pass, Texas, by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Abbott is among the Republican governors, including Florida and Arizona’s governors, who have been sending migrants, by bus and plane, to “liberal cities” such as New York City, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. He has been protesting President Biden’s immigration policies and said that sending the migrants to the Vice President’s residence should remind them to “do their job and secure the border.”

Mexico has encountered an increase in migrant arrivals, and President Biden appointed Harris as “border czar” to lead the migration situation at the southern border. The migrants come from Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, and Panama. About 70% to 80% are from Venezuela.

The international relief agency, SAMU First Response’s Managing Director Tatiana Laborde said that everyone was shocked at the new arrivals. The chaotic situation featured migrants descending buses, holding onto pillows and backpacks, and plastic bags with their meager belongings. 

Video coverage shows the group of men, women and children hanging around and waiting outside Harris’ guarded gates. 

A charity organization, Sanctuary DMV, assisted, and a nearby church took the migrants in.

According to the League of United Latin American Citizens President, Domingo Garcia, the migrants were left there like “human garbage” and that it was an “inhuman” move done by Governor Abbott to make his point. 

There were also some arrivals who were transported from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The migrants said that they did not know where they were going. Officials merely told them that they would be providing resources for them. 

A migrant, Elias Erales Perche, said that he was told that food and housing will be provided at Martha’s Vineyard. Another Venezuelan man said that he had a court date on September 21 in California but is now unsure how to get there in time for his appointment. Everyone was surprised with the move.

Washington DC Mayor, Muriel Bowser, declared a public emergency and requested deployment of the National Guard to address the crisis in her district. The request was denied by the Department of Defense twice.

The actions of Governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis this week are triggering outrage among Democrats and advocates for immigration rights, who are accusing  Republicans of human trafficking, and treating the arrivals like “human cargo” and pawns on a political chessboard.