Durbin says GOP governors of Florida, Texas and Arizona are ‘using migrants as pawns’

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Red states continue to send migrants to sanctuary cities amid surge

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Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin accused the Republican governors of Florida, Texas and Arizona of using undocumented migrants as political pawns before he again called the action of transporting migrants to Chicago and other major cities "inhumane."

Durbin, a Democrat, acknowledged to reporters that the U.S. has a "serious national problem" when it comes to immigration, according to a video tweeted by The Hill on Sunday morning, but said that the governors who sponsor actions such as busing migrants to other cities does not reflect well on them.

"There is no question that the governors of Arizona, Florida and Texas are using migrants as pawns in their political campaigns," Durbin said, without mentioning the governors by name. "There’s just no doubt about it."

"The fact that they would turn them lose in the city of Chicago, for example, without any warning whatsoever," Durbin said. "Families with small children were literally dumped at the train station in Chicago by the governor of Texas."

FACING HISTORIC BIDEN-ERA BORDER CRISIS, GOP GOVERNORS GO ON THE OFFENSIVE

Without mentioning Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey by name, Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, accused the governors of using migrants as political pawns. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)

Durbin already blasted Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday for sending buses of undocumented migrants to Chicago and other major American cities, calling the act "cruel and inhumane." Three buses carrying migrants are reported to have arrived in Chicago in recent weeks. 

Abbott and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, which, like Texas, shares a border with Mexico, has sent thousands of migrants on buses to New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in recent months.

Meanwhile, Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Wednesday that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two planes carrying 50 illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard.

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Republican governors have continued to blame the Biden administration’s border policies for creating an influx of migrants crossing into the country at the southern border. 

The two buses of migrants from Texas that arrived early Thursday outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence at the United States Naval Observatory carried more than 100 migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.

A bus from Texas carrying migrants arrived in New York City earlier this month. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

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"The Biden-Harris administration continues ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years," Abbott said.

Fox News’ Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.