Governors in states hard-hit by refugees and asylum-seekers from south of the border have already made a statement by sending thousands of these unwanted migrants north to cities like Washington, D.C., and New York City. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent decision to go out of his way — over to San Antonio, Texas, in fact — to put a group of 48 mostly Venezuelan asylum-seekers on two chartered planes for Martha’s Vineyard, an upscale island off the Massachusetts coast, is what’s garnered the attention.
A number of the Martha’s Vineyard migrants say they were lied to about where they were going (Boston), and why — with jobs and housing supposedly waiting for them. The Bexar County, Texas, sheriff has launched an investigation. Some of the asylum-seekers had immigration hearing dates in Texas that will be missed, so advocates are working with them and the U.S. government to ensure that doesn’t result in their deportations.
DeSantis vowed to keep shipping migrants north, but he’s a piker compared with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s bused an estimated 8,000 to D.C. since spring (lately, unloading buses outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence), another 2,500 to New York City and 600 to Chicago, the Texas Tribune reports. Arizona has also gotten in on the human-shipping action.
But as cleveland.com columnist Eric Foster wrote Wednesday, there’s another side to this — the millions surging at the border in recent years, overwhelming resources.
Homeless migrants are sleeping on the streets in El Paso, Texas, and last week, NBC reported that authorities were dropping off hundreds of asylum-seekers near El Paso bus station, hoping they’d take the hint. (NBC earlier reported the Biden administration had a secret plan, jokingly codenamed the Abbott plan, to spread the pain of migrants to northern areas.)
So what does our Editorial Board Roundtable think? Rejigger the asylum system to spread the burden around the nation? Devote far more resources to resolving these cases? Enact immigration reform? Try to stop the surge through other means? Something else?
Thomas Suddes, editorial writer:
Someone in Tallahassee needs to read the Bible: “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” (Leviticus)
Ted Diadiun, columnist:
What needs “rejiggering” is border security – turning away the flood of immigrants for whom we have neither room nor resources. I’ve got no issue at all with southern governors allowing the smug East Coast liberals to experience some of the strain their citizens deal with every day.
Lisa Garvin, editorial board member:
Using vulnerable human beings as political fodder and luring them onto buses and planes under false pretenses is despicable. But there’s a delicious irony in that employers in northern states are likely quite eager to have people to fill the jobs that Americans seemingly don’t want.
Victor Ruiz, editorial board member:
The hypocrisy of our “immigration system” is that these “illegal” human beings are not wanted as our fellow citizens but are needed to save our country’s economy (sound familiar?). These governors’ actions are abhorrent and show why we need comprehensive immigration policies that treat people like humans.
Mary Cay Doherty, editorial board member:
These governors give open-border Democrats a much-needed wake-up call. If President Joe Biden and Congress did their jobs, we wouldn’t be talking about “sending” people anywhere. Illegal immigrants should not be flooding into this country. Secure the border, tighten asylum parameters, and open more avenues for legal immigration.
Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion:
Immigration reform is the obvious answer, but too many of our politicians would rather hype up their own political profile with overtly racist, anti-immigrant tropes than to seek a logical, long-term, win-win solution for all — employers, farm owners, unions, citizens, Dreamers and newcomers, alike.
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