The Defense Department on Monday again told local officials in Washington, DC., it will not help the district deal with thousands of migrants who are being bused from Texas and Arizona, standing by its earlier refusal to provide National Guard troops.

In a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, Pentagon Executive Secretary Kelly Bulliner Holly provided a bevy of reasons why the department would not provide National Guard support. Among them was the fact that the troops are not equipped to provide services the arriving migrants would need, including sanitation, provision of food, and managing a central processing facility. 

Holly said the guard would be "inappropriate to the task, regardless of the duration or number of personnel involved."

In a tweet on Monday evening, Bowser said that the city will continue using the resources at its disposal to receive the migrants. She also said she will continue fighting for DC statehood so the National Guard can be deployed when the head of the district deems it necessary. 

Over 7,000 migrants from Central and South American countries have arrived in the city since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, in April began offering free bus rides to the U.S. capital to migrants in an effort to highlight what he calls the Biden administration’s lax border policies. Fellow Republican, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey did the same a month later.

Bowser criticized the move by Abbott and Ducey as a "politically motivated stunt," adding that the influx of migrants to the city without additional support could lead to a "crisis" within local systems.

Bowser made a request in July for 150 National Guard troops to help receive the migrants. She also asked that a temporary processing center be created at the DC Armory, the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, or the Fort Lesley J. McNair post.

Holly also denied the request to use one of those facilities, but only provided reasons in the case of the DC Armory, saying it lacks air conditioning and would need to undergo "substantial remediation" to be suitable for use as a processing facility.

SAMU First Response, an organization initially created to offer aid to unaccompanied minors, is operating a temporary shelter outside of the city for 50 migrants at a time using a $1 million grant from FEMA. The organization is seeking a larger space closer to Union Station, where the migrant buses arrive, that could temporarily house more people.

Other local aid groups have met the buses as they arrive and have driven the migrants to the SAMU facility or to other temporary shelters inside churches or nonprofits.