A White House spokeswoman on Thursday called it “shameful” and “cruel” to send migrants by bus and plane to the wealthy northeastern island and to Washington by Republican governors, AFP reported.

“There is a mechanism and legal means (…) to manage migrants. When Republican governors violate this mechanism and use migrants as political pawns, it is shameful,” said Karin Jean-Pierre.

“This is a premeditated political maneuver” and “brutal,” she also said during the daily press briefing.

For months, local Republican officials bussed migrants to Democratic strongholds across the country.

They accuse President Joe Biden of turning the border with Mexico into a sieve and seek to put immigration at the center of the November midterm election campaign.

While the Biden administration has promised to treat people arriving at the southern border humanely, it is also trying to emphasize its toughness.

Illustrating this balancing act, Karin Jean-Pierre said on Thursday: “This year we will remove and deport more people who will be detained at the border than ever before.

“We are fixing a broken system. It’s not like flipping a switch, it takes time,” she said.

On Thursday morning, two busloads of migrants arrived outside the Washington residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, sent by conservative Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a rising star on the right, claimed responsibility for sending two planes of migrants to the posh island of Martha’s Vineyard, which for the right has become a symbol of all the failures of the Democratic elite.

A White House spokeswoman said she was “deeply concerned” that the approximately 50 Venezuelan migrants, including children, who were brought to the island “were misled about their destination and what would await them upon arrival.”