Immigrant Victims Taking Refuge in Martha's Vineyard Church - Credit: CBS
On September 14th, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis flew two planes filled with Venezuelan immigrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. According to the migrants, a Spanish speaking member of DeSantis' staff, in the guise of a shelter worker, lured the migrants onto the planes with the promise of expedited work papers. Many of the migrants, including several families and small children, had no idea they were being flown to Martha's Vineyard. Some migrants later revealed to reporters that they had families remaining in Venezuela and now had no way to return to help them.
One might assume that at the very least, DeSantis would have given Martha's Vineyard advance warning to prepare for the migrants' arrival, but no, the Florida governor appeared content to surprise the island's officials and residents with the two planes full of migrants who needed food, water, and shelter.
Was this just a political stunt? Was it a savvy attack on liberal immigration policies? Was it more like a kidnapping of the migrants themselves? However it might be characterized, this move by DeSantis is part of a pattern of Southern Republican states sending migrants to unknown destinations with no support. In particular, these past weeks we have seen busloads of migrants sent from Texas to northern "sanctuary cities," and even to the doorstep of Vice President Kamala Harris. Was DeSantis targeting former President Obama? The Obama's have a home on Martha's Vineyard, which might lead one to think that DeSantis' actions are not even for any rational cause, and are instead partisan attacks on the former Democrat President at the expense of migrant workers.
If the goal of DeSantis' stunt was to show that liberals, and particularly those in sanctuary cities, are not as compassionate towards immigrants as they publicly profess, he was immediately proven wrong. The members of the island acted quickly to come together and provide food, blankets, clothing, and even emergency shelter in a church.
DeSantis' actions are an alarming indicator of his willingness to sacrifice humane morals in order to push a political point and leave many, like myself, wondering how his grand scheme was concocted...
Well, the recent stunt unfortunately echoes similar antics of politicians in the 1960's who transported Southern African Americans to northern cities under empty promises of jobs. The deception used against African Americans in the 60's had a similar goal to DeSantis' actions today: remove the people of color from Southern states and attack Northern liberal policy that welcomes minorities. When we take a step back and compare what DeSantis has done to what happened in the 60's, it's hard to ignore the pattern.
Finally, Florida plans to spend $12 million in taxpayer dollars on actions like the Wednesday kidnapping (let's call it what it is) of the Venezuelan migrants.
As DeSantis grows in popularity among the Republican Party and appears to be a leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election, we are left to wonder if disrupting the lives of dozens of immigrants to prove a political point is the best use of millions of taxpayer dollars. To many like myself, DeSantis' grossly corrupt use of government funds demonstrates his clear incapacity to govern his state, much less the US as a whole. Florida, which almost leads the nation in homelessness among an excess of other social, economic, and political problems, clearly has more pressing needs for millions of dollars in state funding.
Despite the transparent use of state funds for a racially motivated political gimmick, the island of Martha's Vineyard leaves us with hope for humanity. It's fortunate that the migrant workers received such generous care from the residents of Martha's Vineyard - much more generous care than they would've received anywhere in Florida.
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3 comments:
It seems like the stunt of transporting immigrants to northern liberal enclaves is a protest by Republican governors against President Biden's immigration policies. The Republican governors want the Biden Administration to secure the border. Nevertheless, it's clearly a shameful and cruel political stunt. A federal investigation should look into the violations of federal law involved in this stunt.
The protests were indeed backlash on progressive immigration policies. The changes in immigration policies, which is generally more welcoming towards migrants, incentivizes more people to immigrate. Nonetheless, the alarming main point is that this method of protest may be an infringement on human rights, and is a deceitful and fascist way of dealing with the issue.
This may also relate to state's rights and federalism. DeSantis claims that this violates the state's 10th amendment rights and immigration laws. If the mass-immigration is a direct effect of the federal government's immigration policy, it brings up the question of whether the government should be responsible for financially supporting migrants and offer federal aid to the states.
I agree with Sannie, and want to develop further how this issue relates to federalism. The federal government typically deals with immigration, passing legislation that affects the whole country. However, the effects of immigration are concentrated on the Southern border in the states of CA, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Since immigration, particularly illegal immigration, disproportionately affects those states, shouldn't they have some say in the policy regarding immigration to those states? That's what Southern Republican governors seem to be claiming at least.
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