Migrants on two flights chartered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis (R) landed on Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday afternoon, and hours later, dozens of migrants sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) arrived on buses near the vice president’s residence in Washington. DC
The governors, along with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), have moved thousands of immigrants in recent months, arguing the decision provides relief to border communities overwhelmed by President Biden’s immigration policies.
But Democrats responded to the moves with strong pushback and accused governors of not notifying the sites and misleading immigrants.
“Why should we only send these people to blue cities or blue states? Why isn’t Abbott sending refugees to Mississippi or Oklahoma or Idaho?’ Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) asked at a news conference Wednesday.
“This is all about politics for him without considering the fear and the anguish and the challenges that he poses for these refugees, but here in Illinois we refuse to stoop to this man’s level,” Pritzker continued, signing a disaster declaration that frees up state resources. and activating 75 members of the Illinois National Guard to assist.
Abbott’s office said Friday that Texas has bused more than 10,400 immigrants since April, with more than 300 arriving in Chicago.
Pritzker said Abbott doesn’t notify Chicago or the state when they send immigrants. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) told CNN on Saturday that some of the migrants were taken to hospitals upon arrival.
“They were put on the buses with sensitive medical conditions that no one in Texas seemed to care about,” Lightfoot told the outlet. “That’s just not right and it’s un-American.”
Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze called Democrats protesting the relocations “absolute hypocrites.”
“Instead of protesting the fulfillment of their sanctuary city promises, these Democratic hypocrites should be calling on President Biden to do his job and secure the border — something the President continues to fail to do,” he said. Eze.
Republican governors argue the relocations ease the burden on border states after immigration arrests hit record levels earlier this year.
“They’re all worried about a few dozen or a few hundred immigrants coming into their city, and we have that many by the hour in almost every community across the border,” Abbott said during an appearance on “Jesse Watters Primetime.” of Fox News on Tuesday. . “Well, we deal with it all the time, and I’m just helping our local communities.”
A majority of Texans — 52 percent — support Abbott’s boarding of immigrants, while 35 percent oppose the initiative, according to a poll by the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Policy Project.
Ducey’s spokesman, CJ Karamargin, said Arizona has sent 1,809 immigrants to D.C., which he called the “source” of the problem with an “unwillingness” to help.
“We would encourage anyone who wants to better understand what’s going on to visit a small border town like Yuma,” he said.
Meanwhile, DeSantis on Wednesday sent immigrants on two chartered flights to Martha’s Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts known for its popularity among the wealthy.
“We’re not a sanctuary state and it’s better if you can go to a sanctuary jurisdiction and yes, we will help facilitate that transition so you can go to greener pastures,” DeSantis said during a news conference Thursday.
Massachusetts state Sen. Julian Cyr (D), who represents Martha’s Vineyard, called the flights “a fundamentally racist tactic” in an interview, drawing comparisons to the “Reverse Freedom Rides,” when Southern segregationists lured African-Americans to the North cities under false pretenses. in 1962.
The flights were also condemned by Massachusetts’ two Democratic senators, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, who both called the move “cruel.”
“The fact that human beings are being trafficked for political gain is abhorrent,” Cyr said. “It also raises some real questions about whether or not laws have been broken here.”
The Boston-based group Lawyers for Civil Rights said its attorneys traveled to Martha’s Vineyard to investigate whether state or federal human trafficking or kidnapping laws were violated.
Scheer said a woman named “Pearl” tricked the migrants into boarding the flight by promising expedited work papers and housing.
It is unclear whether the immigrants are undocumented or asylum seekers allowed into the country to await their cases in immigration court, or a combination of the two.
However, a person’s immigration status is determined by Department of Homeland Security agencies – state governments have little or no say or legal authority to expedite cases.
In a statement, DeSantis communications director Taryn Fenske called the immigrants “illegal immigrants,” but did not specify their immigration status.
“Florida can confirm that the two planes of illegal immigrants that arrived in Martha’s Vineyard today were part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations,” he said.
Florida Democrats slammed DeSantis’ move, particularly as it affected Venezuelan nationals fleeing the left-wing authoritarian regime of President Nicolas Maduro.
Former Gov. Charlie Crist, DeSantis’ Democratic opponent, attacked the Republican governor directly.
“When you’re so inhumane in the way you treat human beings, you’re not qualified to be the ruler of anything,” Christ said.
And state Sen. Annette Taddeo (D), who is challenging Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), said the move casts doubt on the Florida Republican’s claims of opposition to leftist authoritarianism in Latin America.
“After last night’s news, Republicans can never again claim to stand with the victims of communism. Exploiting people fleeing oppressive regimes and using them as political pawns to score cheap points with their Fox News audience and the extreme fringes of their party is cruel and inhumane,” Taddeo said in a statement.
Vanessa Cárdenas, deputy director of the progressive immigration group America’s Voice, called the relocations “caravans 2.0,” a reference to Republicans who have seized large groups of migrants traveling together across the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years.
“Their hope is to score points on Fox and distract from the Republican slump in the polls in 2022,” Cárdenas said in a statement.
“Ron DeSandis and Greg Abbott are vying for MAGA-world credit for ‘fat ownership,’” he continued. “In the process they highlight to the rest of the electorate how cruel, dehumanizing and transparently political their motives are.”
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RJ Hauman, director of government relations and communications at the Federation for American Immigration Reform — a restrictionist group that wields significant influence among GOP immigration hawks — applauded the relocations.
“It’s beyond hypocritical to see mayors fuming about governors taking illegal immigrants to their so-called sanctuaries because it’s ‘inhumane,’ when they’re silent on Biden policies that incentivize those same people to put their lives on the line.” hands of real people smugglers and cartels,” Howman told The Hill.
Updated at 5:30 p.m
