Republican governors are ramping up their practice of sending unannounced migrants to Democratic strongholds, including a wealthy Massachusetts island and the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, to provoke leaders of so-called “sanctuary” cities and highlight their opposition. to the policies of the administration of President Joe Biden.
The governors of Texas and Arizona have bused thousands of migrants to New York, Chicago and Washington, DC in recent months, but the most recent actions — which included two flights on Wednesday to Martha’s Vineyard Island paid for by Florida — reached a new level of political theater that critics called inhumane.
Upon arrival in Martha’s Vineyard, where former President Barack Obama has a home, the mostly Venezuelan migrants received food, shelter, medical care and information on where to find work.
The resort island south of Boston, whose year-round residents include many working-class folks, has apparently absorbed the dozens of newcomers without too much trouble.
Elizabeth Folcarelli, director of the nonprofit Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, was about to finish her job when she saw 48 Venezuelans with luggage and backpacks approaching her office. They carried red folders with brochures from the Folcarelli organization.
“They were told they would have a job and a house,” said Folcarelli, who described the high demand for shelter as a “huge challenge.”
On Thursday, the migrants played soccer and socialized in small groups outside their temporary shelter, while meeting with visiting lawyers for free advice and other service providers.
Supporters made donations and volunteers signed up to provide whatever help they could. There were no signs of protests.
Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), said some of the migrants bused from Texas to Washington, DC on Thursday were “deceived,” a claim the AP has not confirmed and that Texas and Arizona officials have denied.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the flights to Martha’s Vineyard are part of an initiative to “transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.” The Florida legislature appropriated $12 million to transport “unauthorized aliens” out of the state.
DeSantis’ office did not respond to questions about where the migrants boarded the flights and how they were persuaded to make the trip.
Julian Cyr, a state senator from Massachusetts, told the Vineyard Gazette that one flight departed from San Antonio, Texas, raising questions about whether the migrants ever set foot in Florida. Flight monitoring data shows that one flight originated in San Antonio, made stops in Crestview, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina, before landing on Martha’s Vineyard.
The two buses with migrants that left Texas and arrived early Thursday in front of Harris’s residence, at the United States Naval Observatory, transferred more than 100 people from Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.
“The Biden-Harris administration continues to ignore and deny the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for nearly two years,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has dedicated thousands of millions of taxpayer dollars to make border security a distinctive issue.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has had public run-ins with DeSantis and Abbott over their conservative policies, asked the Justice Department Thursday to investigate whether transporting migrants across state lines as “political props ” constituted a violation of the law.
“Transporting families, including children, across state lines under false pretenses is morally reprehensible, but it may also be illegal,” Newsom wrote in a letter to state Attorney General Merrick Garland. The governor also posted it on his Twitter account.
Without mentioning DeSantis or Abbot by name, Newsom hinted that the federal government could bring charges of kidnapping and “civil rights conspiracy” because the migrants were targeted because of their national origin.
After asylum-seeking migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border, they spend time at a Customs and Border Protection facility near the border until they are usually released into the United States to await follow-up. of their cases. Republicans say Biden’s policies encourage migrants to hide inside the country. Democrats argue that the Trump-era policy of forcing migrants to wait in Mexico for their asylum cases to be resolved was inhumane.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that the Republican governors who sent the migrants to Massachusetts and Washington did not give federal authorities advance notice.
“We are talking about children, about families who were promised a house, a job, put on a bus and taken to a place unknown to them,” said Jean-Pierre, who said the behavior of the governors is “a cruel and premeditated political ruse”.
Abbott has bused 7,900 migrants to Washington since April, followed by 2,200 to New York and 300 to Chicago. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has sent more than 1,800 migrants to Washington since May. Riders must sign documents saying they voluntarily accept the free rides.
DeSantis seems to be taking the strategy to a different level by using planes and choosing Martha’s Vineyard, whose port towns of about 15,000 people are much less prepared than New York or Washington for the arrival of large numbers of people.
Texas and Florida have infuriated authorities in destination cities by failing to provide passenger lists, estimated arrival times and other information that would make preparations to receive them easier. In contrast, Arizona has coordinated with officials from other cities.
Biden faces the same problems as Trump: a dysfunctional asylum system and economic and social conditions that are causing people in many countries to decide to leave them.
U.S. authorities detained migrants from Mexico about 2 million times from October to July, an increase of almost 50% from the same period a year earlier. Many are released in the United States to pursue their immigration cases due to the difficulties of federal authorities to expel them under a regulation known as Title 42, which dates from the pandemic and denies them the opportunity to seek asylum.
Some Republicans celebrated the new shipments of migrants from border states to sanctuary cities.
“Massachusetts, welcome to being a southern border state,” tweeted Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for DeSantis.
Stephen Miller, one of the main architects of Trump’s policies to control migration, said bringing “a few million” migrants to Martha’s Vineyard should transform the island of 15,000 people into “a modern Eden.”
Charlie Crist, the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, said DeSantis is treating migrants inhumanely. “I am amazed at what he is willing to do just for political gain,” he stated.
Talia Inlender, deputy director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy, said the flights to Martha’s Vineyard appear to violate Florida law that they be limited to “unauthorized aliens.”
“These people are not without authorization,” he said. “There is no way they are flying without anyone noticing”:
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Associated Press writers Steve LeBlanc in Boston; Seung Min Kim in Washington; Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Fla.; Gisela Solomon in Miami; Anita Snow in Phoenix; Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, and Adam Beam in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.