Democratic lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with DeSantis and other GOP governors for moving immigrants to the liberal metropolitan areas of Washington, New York and Chicago in an effort to pressure the Biden administration to pay more attention to illegal immigration. On Thursday, locals were dealing with GOP moves not only in the scenic vacation spot off the coast of Massachusetts, but also near Vice President Harris’ official residence in Washington, D.C.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who has pushed for major immigration reform to be on this year’s congressional agenda, said DeSantis’ stunt eliminated him as a serious 2024 presidential contender.
“It’s a horrible stunt, but none worse than what DeSantis just did, and it should disqualify him from serving another day in office,” Kaine said. DeSantis sent about 50 Texas immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, while Abbott sent two busloads of mostly Venezuelan immigrants to the vice president’s residence. Kaine noted that Venezuelan migrants are leaving “one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world” and that the United States is the largest provider of humanitarian aid to Venezuela.
“That DeSantis would go to Texas to round up Venezuelans to drop them off at Martha’s Vineyard, the guy has no heart or conscience. It’s outrageous,” Kaine said. “Those poor Venezuelans, what they are suffering.” The arrival of two planes of Venezuelan migrants caught local officials on Martha’s Vineyard by surprise and sent them scrambling to find food and shelter on the small island, which has a year-round population of 17,000 and has enough housing for an influx of seasonal workers in summer. a challenge.
Martha’s Vineyard’s Chamber of Commerce on Thursday called the situation a “humanitarian crisis,” and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s office said it remains in contact with local officials to monitor efforts to provide short-term shelter services.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blamed DeSantis for letting the immigrants go without any warning to local officials. “It is cruel to treat human beings as pawns in a political game. It’s hit a new low,” he said of DeSantis.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), who led the failed immigration reform negotiations with Republicans earlier this year, said it was “cruel and inhumane” for Abbott to send immigrants to Chicago without any coordination with the local authorities, struggling to absorb new arrivals into the city’s network of social services. “When the governor of Texas won’t even call us to tell us that these families are being bused to Union Station in Chicago, it’s cruel and inhumane and a little political stunt on his part. I hope he is held accountable,” he said.
Durbin, who met with newly arrived immigrant families last week in Chicago, said “moral standards have been flagrantly violated by this behavior.”
He recalled meeting a couple who trekked across Central America with their two babies to reach the United States to seek asylum, who “went through every possible humiliation” to reach a safe haven. “Now they come to the United States and have the governor of Texas heap this humiliation on them. It’s just unfair and un-American,” he said.
He said the influx of immigrants is putting pressure on Chicago’s social services. Officials have resorted to setting up cribs at the Salvation Army rescue center to protect them.
Sen. Bob Menendez (DN.J.), another top Democratic advocate for immigration reform and an outspoken critic of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, called DeSantis’ behavior “disgraceful.”
“It’s a shame that instead of welcoming Venezuelans to the state with the largest Venezuelan diaspora in the US, @GovRonDeSantis chose to lure immigrants like a human trafficker and lie about where they will score political points with Trump’s MAGA base,” he wrote. on Twitter. Senate Republicans, however, say DeSantis, Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey are justified in sending immigrants to Blue States. They argue that border states like Texas and Arizona should not be alone in shouldering the burden of thousands of immigrants entering the country.
“Right now Arizona and Texas and a few others are shouldering the burden, and other states are going to have to shoulder their fair share,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. Romney has frequently criticized former President Trump, pointing out that on immigration, the moves by DeSantis and Abbott do not appear to divide Republicans.
When asked if busing immigrants to Democratic states appears to be a political stunt, Romney accused the Biden administration of playing politics by not doing more to secure the southern border. Asked how he might handle the sudden influx of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard if he were still governor, Romney replied: “I’m not the governor of Massachusetts, but any governor will have a responsibility to find places and employment and housing and other opportunities for those who come to the country.” Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) also defended DeSantis and Abbott.
He said if Democrats are upset, they should “do something about it” by taking action to limit the flow of people across the border.
Posthumous pardon for George Floyd rejected by Uber’s Texas board investigating possible network breach after hacker taunts He argued that sending immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Washington, D.C. and other Democratic enclaves “certainly gets people’s attention.”
“Prior to this, this Biden administration was ignoring the situation at the border,” he said. “This is something we’ve lived with for a long time in Texas.” He said political leaders in Martha’s Vineyard, New York and Washington “should pick up the phone and call Biden to the White House and say we have a problem, we have to do something about it.”