Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rejected Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request to have the National Guard deployed to support an influx of migrants arriving in the nation’s capital.

The Daily Caller reports:

The spokesperson [from the DOD] said that the deployment would “negatively impact” the force’s readiness.

Bowser recently requested the deployment of the city’s National Guard troops to address the influx of migrants bused through the efforts of Republican Governors of Texas and Arizona to address a “growing humanitarian crisis.”

“The Secretary of Defense has declined to approve the DCHSEMA request for DCNG to provide personnel and the DC Armory to assist the NGO, SAMU First Response, with transportation and reception of migrants arriving in the DC area. We have determined providing this support would negatively impact the readiness of the DCNG and have negative effects on the organization and members,” the spokesperson said.

“We understand SAMU First Response has received grant funding through FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and has indicated that sufficient EFSP funds exist at this point to provide migrant assistance,” the Pentagon spokesperson added.