Since April, Republican governors in Texas, and Florida have been using migrants as pawns in their political game. With growing numbers of immigrants at the border in Texas, Abbott (Texas Gov.), and Desantis (Florida Gov.) have decided to use these humans as an advantage to help the elections coming up in November.
What started off as a big dehumanizing ‘told you so’ to Democrat governors, has turned into a nightmare for the states that are having the migrants bused to them. Texas governor Abott started this dehumanizing process to highlight the struggles that border towns are having to go through in Texas. Republican governors are putting the blame on the Biden Administration for the increase of immigrants making their way into the US, since he passed the “open border” policy that never actually opened the border. Though Biden still does support having security at the borders, many Republicans have taken this term and ran with it. Making the humanitarian crisis that is occurring at our borders, into a Republican VS Democrat hate fest.
Mayor Bowser of Washington had to declare an emergency after having nearly 9,400 migrants arrive in the state since May (TWP). While New York has had a 10% increase of homelessness since the busing started, having nearly 100 new arrivals everyday (NYT). The lack of shelters in the city causing migrants to have to sleep on the streets. Then city officials in Massachusetts were unaware of the 50 Venezuela immigrants that were flown from Boston to Martha’s Vineyard by Governor Desantis.
While city officials aren’t being warned about the arrival of migrants, many of the victims that are being moved around the country are unaware of where they are going as well. The migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard claim that they believed they were going somewhere else, and chose to get on the plane because of promises of work papers (Texas Tribune). While some migrants state they had the choice of going to Chicago, Washington, or New York, others stating that they had no choice of where they went.
Along with not providing warning of the arriving migrants, Governor Desantis also didn’t share any information about the migrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard. Including which migrants had been processed by the federal immigration authorities, and how they got on the plane in the first place. Some migrants stated that a woman named “Perla” had offered them seats on the plane, but didn’t let them know they were going to the island.
The mystery woman was recently identified as Perla Huerta, a counterintelligence agent and combat medic specialist for the military (CNN). Another migrant came out and stated that Huerta had offered him food, money, and clothes if he helped her recruit other immigrants to get on the plane. He had only agreed because migrants that got on the plane were going to be provided shelter, clothes and meals at a hotel until the flight on September 14. Huerta had also told the ‘recruiter’ that the migrants being sent to Massachusetts would be provided help with language barriers, their children would be able to study, and they would have a place to stay.
Along with the deception of many migrants that just want a better life in America, the blatant disrespect from these Republican governors to not only the migrants but to the governors that are having to scramble to help these people, is enough to see that they don’t actually care about these people's well being. From calling migrants that have been allowed into the US as they wait for the outcome of their legal cases regarding seeking asylum “illegal immigrants”, to putting wristbands with barcodes on the migrants wrists as if they are livestock, it's obvious these politicians want to do nothing but prove a point, and try to gain some rep amongst fellow conservatives.
Their motives became more clear when Abott sent 100 migrants to the Naval Observatory in Washington, which is where Vice President Kamala Harris resides. Abott stated to radio station KFYO that “She’s the border czar, and we felt that if she won’t come down to see the border, if President [Joe] Biden will not come down and see the border, we will make sure they see it firsthand. …And listen, there’s more where that came from” (Texas Tribune). His words make it obvious to see that he is doing this to get a rise out of Democrat politicians, and try to hurt their reputation. This becomes even more clear based on the fact that Fox News knew about the arrival of migrants in Washington, but no city officials or organizations knew about their arrival.
While it's obvious that Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star”, is causing harm to other states resources. It's important that these governors know the harm they are causing to the migrants that they are sending off. From language barriers, to the lack of shelter for these people, it's a humanitarian crisis that needs to be confronted for what it is: a cheap way of gaining brownie points from fellow Republicans for the upcoming election. There are different solutions that Abbott could have gone about regarding the border towns in Texas, but moving the problem from one state to another, is doing nothing to actually help these people. If the issue continues to be ignored and used as a way to shift blame by not only Biden but by governors like Abbott as well, it will never have a resolution that benefits everyone. These lenses of red and blue must be removed if our country wants to grow to actually be united as one, and solve the humanitarian crisis that is occurring at our borders.
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Cover photo courtesy of Jason Andrew for The New York Times
Gabriella Munoz is a staff writer and editor for The Lion's Roar. You can learn more information about the writer by clicking here.
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