The mayor of the nation’s capital has requested to activate the city’s National Guard in order to deal with the loads of migrants being sent to Washington, D.C., from Texas.

Mayor Bowser has sent requests for activation to the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, and the White House. She says that 4,000 migrants have arrived on buses since Texas’s governor, Gregory Abbott, began sending them to her city in May. 

She called the situation in Washington a “humanitarian crisis” that “requires a federal response.”

In April, Mr. Abbott announced he would begin sending migrants to the capital to shift the burden of response to the federal government, after the Biden administration announced its intention to end Covid-era Title 42 restrictions on immigration.

“To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed by hordes of illegal immigrants,” Mr. Abbott said then, “Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants, who have been dropped off by the Biden administration, to Washington, D.C.”

He added weeks later: “By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., Texas is sending a clear message: we should not have to bear the burden of the federal government’s inaction to secure the border.”

Now, according to local groups aiding the migrants, the rate of arrivals to D.C. has accelerated — reaching as high as 160 persons per day.

Earlier this month, during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Ms. Bowser advocated for “a coordinated federal response.”

“This is a very significant issue,” she said. “We have, for sure, called on the federal government to work across state lines to prevent people from really being tricked into getting on buses. We think they’re largely asylum seekers who are going to final destinations that are not Washington, D.C.”

Ms. Bowser in 2016 declared D.C. a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. “We celebrate our diversity and respect all DC residents no matter their immigration status,” she said at the time.