The crisis caused by the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona with the sending of irregular intercepted immigrant buses on the border with Mexico to cities in the North of the United States, such as Washington, New York or Chicago, escalated this Wednesday with the landing in the comfortable island of Martha's Vineyard, off the southern coast of Massachusetts, of two planes paid for by the Governor of Florida, also a Republican, Ron DeSantis.
About 50 people were traveling on board, mostly Venezuelans, who, according to their testimonies, when they boarded in San Antonio (Texas), were made to believe that they were going to Boston.
A video provided by the governor's office to the conservative Fox News television network later confirmed that DeSantis had fulfilled his threat to join his counterparts in Texas and Arizona and add pressure to the Democratic authorities in the north of the country and to the White House.
He did it with funds approved by the state parliament and from an airport outside his state: despite the fact that they made a stopover, none of the travelers set foot in Florida at any time.
A DeSantis spokeswoman later issued a statement: “Massachusetts, New York and California will better care for these people they have invited into our country by encouraging illegal immigration by selling themselves as 'sanctuary states,' and thanks to his support for the open border policies of the [Joe] Biden administration.”
The office of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker confirmed that these people will be given shelter.
“Local authorities are providing short-term shelter services, and our Administration will continue to support those efforts,” said its press secretary, Terry MacCormack.
The immigrants, who made stops in Florida and South Carolina, spent the night in an Episcopalian church on the island.
The mayor of the town of West Tibury told the
Martha's Vineyard Times
that she fears the arrival of more planes in the coming days.
"We have the governor of Florida hatching a secret plot to send immigrant families like cattle on a plane," said Democratic Senator Dylan Fernandes, a representative at the island's Capitol, a place famous for having served as an exclusive vacation spot for three Presidents: Kennedy, Clinton and Obama.
“Sending women and children to a place without telling them where they are being sent and without alerting local authorities of their arrival is incredibly inhumane and depraved.”
This is a community rallying to support immigrant children and families.
It is the best of America.
pic.twitter.com/qnQZYjNA9J
— Dylan Fernandes (@RepDylan) September 15, 2022
Fernandes's complaint abounds in those of Democratic representatives such as the mayors of New York (Eric Adams), Chicago (Lori Lightfoot) and Washington (Muriel Bowser), three destinations to which the governor of Texas, Greg Abbot, began chartering, starting with the federal capital, free buses in April to make them participants in the migratory crisis that the border state is experiencing.
Later his counterpart from Arizona, Doug Ducey, would join.
Both Ducey and Abbot are playing for their position in the legislative elections on November 8, and their programs include a tough hand with immigration, as well as the maintenance of Title 42, an obscure regulation from 1893 dusted off by the Trump Administration in full pandemic and that allows the expulsion of irregulars for health reasons (in this case, covid).
Biden tried to take down his application in May, but a Louisiana judge revived him shortly after, despite the fact that the pandemic is beginning to be more of a memory than a health emergency.
They began to arrive in New York in August, and there are already thousands, given the impotence of the local assistance services, which have denounced that they are not enough.
In Washington, Mayor Bowser asked at the end of July for help from the National Guard, a group of reservists destined to lend a hand in case of need.
The White House did not approve their mobilization.
Last week, Bowser, supported by a declaration of a state of emergency in the District of Columbia, was able to announce the creation of a special office to manage the crisis.
According to her calculations, some 9,400 people have arrived, many of whom do not stay in Washington, but continue their journey to other places where their relatives await them.
The Governor of Illinois, Democrat JB Pritzker, has also issued an emergency or "disaster" declaration, as it is officially called, due to the arrival of immigrants in Chicago.
This Thursday, according to the conservative media
Fox News
and the
Washington Examiner
, two of the Abbott buses arrived from Eagle Pass, Texas, specifically to a subway stop near the official residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, at the Naval Observatory, northwest of the city.
They covered a 48-hour journey and carried between 75 and 100 immigrants.
Among the few duties that Harris has assumed in the year and a half since she was sworn in, she has highlighted her commitment to managing immigration policies.
Sending those immigrants is a way of punishing her for her statement in an interview on NBC on Sunday that she said the border is "secure."
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