The tactic to ship fifty illegal immigrants from Florida to the posh Martha’s Vineyard was indeed a political ploy, but it so aptly demonstrated the Left’s hypocrisy. The Left is so angry at having its pants pulled down; they are lashing out at anyone who demonstrated this point. To quote teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg: How DARE you!
I don’t mean to dance in the end zone. Immigration is indeed a serious issue with many very real problems (see below for more). The people involved do matter and we should treat them well, but the Left has used immigrants as pawns for years. The Right is attacked continuously for not caring, for being xenophobic, racist and anything else that could ever-so-remotely apply. Trying to maintain national integrity and sovereignty is none of these things. Limiting the flow of illegal drugs into the country is none of these things. Establishing a rational policy of immigration, and an appropriate supply of labor to help strapped American businesses while still protecting American workers from unfair competition, is none of these things.
The whole reason for open borders and unfettered immigration of today is votes. The Left is all in for illegal immigration and attacking Republicans on the issue for no other reason. This point was demonstrated so well this week.
How Does the Left View This Incident?
Here is CNN’s view:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/17/us/marthas-vineyard-migrants-journey-desantis/index.html
Per CNN: the migrants felt fooled. They felt their suffering was exploited. People were throwing obstacles in their way. Some migrants thought they were getting closer to New York where they had relatives. This was all a big trick by the governor.
Governor Gavin Newsome said what Governor Ron DeSantis did was “almost monstrous”. Governor Newsome also urged legal action next:
I urge US DOJ to investigate whether the alleged fraudulent inducement would support charges of kidnapping under relevant state laws
Comedian John Stewart says DeSantis and Governor Abbot are trying to one-up Trump in “utter cruelty”.
“It probably angered Trump because ‘Nobody’s gonna be a bigger dick than me.’ Like this is going to be — imagine the season that we’re in where they are trying to one-up each other in utter cruelty.
Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro called it “human trafficking”:
“I’m glad Bexar County has opened a criminal investigation into these actions. I suspect legal advocates will ultimately file civil suit against DeSantis, the State of Florida, and every other entity or company who knowingly participated in this deceptive human trafficking,” Castro said.
This sounds serious. Did I miss something in my original analysis? Let me examine it again. While Governors Abbot and DeSantis ship immigrants around the country to make a point, I agree they should treat people decently.
This action definitely demonstrated their point. The Left was made to understand and feel the consequences of its own actions. Furthermore, America sees how sanctuary locations respond under pressure. You can put up a lawn sign to show what you are for or against, but you should live out the principle on the lawn sign when confronted with reality.
Still, we must determine: were moral principles compromised by governors demonstrating this point? Did they act badly or not? Let’s run through the sequence of events. Migrants were put up in a hotel before their trip. They were fed and clothed and provided basic necessities along with air conditioning and comfortable beds. They were told what came next, provided a map, and an explanation of their journey, in English and Spanish. They were provided consent forms and only volunteers were accepted. They were flown on an air-conditioned airplane to one of the ritziest vacation spots in the USA, a location which surely has room to comfortably house a party of fifty. Where is the problem?
Furthermore, this tactic of shipping people all over the country has been done by the Biden administration for the last two years. There was no outrage over Biden’s far more extensive and clearly deliberate action, so why start now?
https://nypost.com/2022/06/09/biden-admin-to-ship-migrants-from-border-to-us-cities/.
What are the “monstrous” actions from the Right? Where is the “utter cruelty”? Is this how “kidnapping” and “human trafficking” have been re-defined? The Left wants us to believe this action is on par with loading Jews into cattle cars and involuntarily shipping them to Auschwitz? No, not quite. I know I am on the right track when the criticism lacks all legitimacy. It is so distressing when politicians repeat such untenable claims. They have to know they are untrue, yet because they are able to convince folks in their base, they persist in the lies.
Martha’s Vineyard calls itself a sanctuary city. A sanctuary city is where immigrants go to avoid the terrible racist Republicans, right? Advocates of sanctuary cities stress their safety. They are a refuge.
Immigration-101-What-is-a-Sanctuary-City
Sanctuary cities are safer:
In a sentence, sanctuary cities make everyone safer.
So, from all of the above, I conclude that shipping immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard (or any other location outside the Southern border) if done by President Biden, President Obama, or others on the Left makes everyone safer, yet, if done by Governor DeSantis or Abbot, this action has the opposite effect. The above treatise on sanctuary cities forgot to include the Republican corollary, the counter example. It is bad when Republicans send people to sanctuary cities. This is how logic works in 2022.
Fighting Back
The Left uses any method at its disposal to win an argument. Winning becomes the ultimate goal. They claim this is a political ploy akin to human trafficking and kidnapping (while downplaying the actual human trafficking by foreign cartels). They claim providing for and shipping homeless people from one locale far away from home to another locale far away from home is “utter cruelty”. They will never convince me or many others, but they don’t care what we think. People like me are convinced the Left lacks any decency and cannot fight fair, but they don’t care we see through their convoluted logic. They just need to convince some, not all. Their base has been conditioned by all the other lies that came before these; they don’t like the Right (sometimes for good reason), so they are amenable to new claims of their wickedness, even claims the other side lacks any humanity whatsoever.
It is so rare the Right effectively fights back against the Left. There is a restraint, a hesitancy, on the Right which is not apparent on the Left. A few on the Right advocate for adopting the Left’s techniques. I don’t agree. We shouldn’t play a crazy game of chicken and we shouldn’t seek to win at any cost. We do not want to become those we criticize. The Right played the game perfectly this time! No migrants were treated inhumanely. Nobody used unprincipled methods to trick people. The Right did exactly what the Left has been doing unchecked and unnoticed for years.
In the wake of all this you should ask a few questions. Where are the Biden consent forms for those it has shipped across the country the last two years? Has anyone in the media bother to ask? Do you notice a double standard? Have any media outlets questioned the Left’s political calculation on immigration? Did anyone ask: is it legitimate to sacrifice lives of young people overdosing on illegal drugs so your party can obtain more votes in upcoming elections? Did they ask: can our country actually afford 2.5 million (the total for fiscal year 2022) undocumented immigrants entering every year? Do we have enough jobs, schools, and social services to support this massive influx? How about the fact that illegals are allowed entry immediately while those who attempt to enter legally often wait for years or may even be denied? Is this system fair?
Unfortunately, it appears the Left has no recognition whatsoever of what is happening. Folks in Martha’s Vineyard said they don’t have enough resources to help fifty migrants. Migrants stayed there for fewer than 48 hours. Residents complained of being caught unaware, but the folks in McAllen, Texas don’t get telegrams from Mexico, and they are not as well off as the folks in Martha’s Vineyard. This year, McAllen, a city of 142,000, has been receiving more than 1,500 immigrants daily. Affluent Martha’s Vineyard, a city of 12,000, was overwhelmed with a single day of 50 immigrants. McAllen receives 30 times more immigrants every single day.
During the last two months, Texas Governor Abbot has shipped 8,100 migrants to Washington, 2,700 to New York, and 675 to Chicago. All three mayors impacted have been apoplectic, yet the contrast between these metropolitan cities and McAllen is stark. Why are border towns expected to shoulder the entire burden? These much larger cities complain about a volume much less than what McAllen receives in a week.
Events in Texas are inconsequential for folks in Martha’s Vineyard–until they themselves feel the consequences. I don’t doubt this incident was actually a challenge for Martha’s Vineyard residents; it also appears migrants were treated well (residents lived out the aphorisms on their lawn signs; good for them!), but McAllen and other border towns are overwhelmed continually, not just once. Can the Left at least acknowledge there is a serious crisis that other Americans are dealing with? Can they ever admit that racism and xenophobia are totally unrelated to this problem?
Perhaps the Bay State residents should have listened to Michelle Obama, one of their own from Martha’s Vineyard. In a colloquial fashion, she echoes the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Give them the shirt off your back.
Will anything actually change or will the Left’s questionable tactics be affirmed by voters this Fall? The tactics must be repudiated or they will continue. Unfortunately, this video from the Daily Caller shows many still lack the basic understanding of the border problem. They see it through a very narrow lens:
https://dailycaller.com/2022/09/23/biden-delaware-migrants-border-desantis/
What are the Real Problems and Who is Responsible?
In a related event that should surprise nobody, a Boston law firm has convinced half the migrants they are victims. Governor DeSantis will likely be sued or criminally investigated. Was it just a political stunt or was it criminal? It seems today that political action the Left does not like becomes a criminal offense.
https://news.yahoo.com/lawyers-representing-migrants-dumped-marthas-160001735.html
The Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights group — which says it is representing more than 30 of the migrants — sent letters to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and Massachusetts US Attorney Rachael Rollins over the weekend, saying that “criminal laws were broken by the perpetrators of this stunt.”
Perhaps the best defense is a counter-suit? I speculate that the lawyers themselves are using the migrants as pawns, and are likely lying to them about the whole experience. Sign this document and we will give you stuff (money, job, place to stay, etc.). Some big Democrat donor is probably financing the migrants’ legal expenses. Do they understand the legal forms they sign? Are they being tricked into signing? That doesn’t matter to many folks. What matters is that more of the American citizenry are tricked into believing something that is not true. Win at whatever cost.
Still, there are real problems we should pay attention to. Do not be distracted by the shiny object from Boston lawyers. Border towns and states are having trouble coping. There is real suffering as well.
Fentanyl alone kills nearly 200 Americans daily and deaths have risen as border crossings rise Fentanyl crisis is an international attack on America. We must fight back. (msn.com). Do these lives matter or only the lives of 50 immigrants who might have been used as pawns but were treated well?
Actual human trafficking is real and our immigration policy has encouraged this inhumane practice. Comparing the Martha’s Vineyard trip to this practice is despicable. Watch this short video describing the problem. Can’t more be done to help such desperate people?
https://www.wsmv.com/video/2022/09/21/an-inside-look-human-trafficking-border/
nypost.com/2022/08/23/2-migrant-children-drown-trying-to-cross-rio-grande-into-us
Per the story above, during the last two years, more than a thousand immigrants have died as mass migrations go afoul. How many more died before they even reached our border? How much longer will the toll rise before progressive media and politicians quit shouting racism?
Do you remember there were thousands of migrants were living under a bridge in El Paso for months?
Thousands of Haitian migrants living in third world conditions under Texas bridge to seek asylum
There was an actual investigation of this incident, but only because someone said the border patrol was whipping migrants. It turned out that border patrol agents were whipping their horses, not migrants. I think using the reins to direct a horse is common. Pretending it is something else is silly. Maybe they got a few more votes for concocting this incredible story?
Earlier this year, 53 migrants died in a tractor trailer in San Antonio. 2022 has been the worst year ever for migrant deaths; in all, 2.5 million immigrants crossed the Southern border this year.
These events were all far more serious concerns than sending 50 migrants to the posh Martha’s Vineyard, but is any politician sued? A few intrepid reporters actually dared to ask Biden’s Press Secretary about their policy.
https://www.theblaze.com/shows/the-rubin-report/jean-pierre-migrants?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1
“DeSantis, apparently, said it was essentially no different than what the federal government has done in sending, you know, flights in the middle of the night — that’s how it’s characterized, you know, taking migrants to various different states. Do you have a response to that?” the reporter asked.
“We are offering solutions. That’s what the Biden Harris Administration has been doing since day one, including on the first day, putting forth a comprehensive immigration reform to deal with this issue,” Jean-Pierre blurted out.
The rest of the media ignores the problems (pretends problems don’t exist when a Democrat is in office) and doesn’t highlight such awful responses; the story is not fully told.
I also thought the administration was laser focused on stopping COVID. Many American citizens have been fired or forced to be vaccinated, but not migrants; their votes in the future matter more than COVID in the present. Throughout 2020 and 2021, COVID positive cases among immigrants remained alarmingly high, and were exacerbated as migrants were sheltered in tightly packed quarters and sleeping on floors.
https://nypost.com/2021/08/04/thousands-of-covid-positive-migrants-pass-through-Texas
“The Biden Administration has knowingly — and willfully — released COVID-19 positive migrants into Texas communities, risking the potential exposure and infection of Texas residents,” An Abbott spokesperson said in response to the ruling. “The Governor’s Executive Order attempts to prevent the Biden Administration from spreading COVID-19 into Texas and protect the health and safety of Texans.”
Might we call any of these facilities used by the current administration in 2021 and 2022 cages? Representative Ocasio-Cortez is too busy to visit the border and comment these days.
A Few more have their Say
Governor DeSantis explained his actions regarding Martha’s Vineyard. He did nothing wrong.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) dismissed claims Friday from Democrats and left-wing media that the 50 illegal immigrants who were sent to Martha’s Vineyard were “falsely lured” or “enticed” into going.
“I think that’s totally false,” he said in answer to a question from a reporter during a press conference. “I think if you look, the folks that are contracted, not only do they give them a release form to sign, they actually give them a packet and in that packet included a map of Martha’s Vineyard. So it was obvious that that’s where they were going and they gave that to them.”
“And here’s the thing, it’s all voluntary, because it’s just the type of thing where we think that’s the right way to do it,” DeSantis continued. “I mean, I think that if the states could send, I would send back to Mexico or back to the home country. But here we are doing it voluntarily, they sign a release, and then they get a packet. So they did get a packet that had the map of Martha’s Vineyard. And they’re also treated, you know very well with all this, I mean, they’re treated well with meals and everything.”
El Paso is another city flooded by immigrants. Their mayor, a Democrat, has also been shipping folks north. He sees no problem with shipping them to other locales.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/el-pasos-democrat-mayor-defends-busing-illegal-immigrants-to-new-york
The Democrat mayor of El Paso defended his city’s policy of busing migrants 2,200 miles northeast to New York City, saying the beleaguered West Texas city is just trying to help them get to their ultimate destination.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Mayor Oscar Leeser said the migrants are being treated humanely, even though Republican leaders, including Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), have been criticized by Democrats for exporting them to blue states and liberal cities. Leeser said as many as 2,000 illegal immigrants are flooding into his city daily.
“The people are not coming to El Paso, they’re coming to America,” said Leeser, who served as mayor from 2013-2017 and was re-elected last year. “We don’t send anyone where they don’t want to go. We make sure we help them.
“We put them on buses with food and make sure they get to their destination and make sure that we always continue to greet and treat people like human beings,” he added.
Another popular commentator surprised his guests by recognizing the legitimacy of this tactic. Yes, we like effective people who do the right thing.
Charlamagne tha God called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) a “genius” last Thursday for exposing the hypocrisy of Democrats on immigration.
Speaking on his Comedy Central show “Hell of a Week,” Charlamagne tha God praised DeSantis for exposing the double standard of sanctimonious Democrats outraged over Republican governors transporting migrants to sanctuary cities.
“For months, Republican governors have sent busloads of illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities like New York, D.C., and Chicago, with the message of, ‘If you like them so much, they’re yours, OK?'” Charlamagne began. “Well, just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis upped the game by sending two [sic] planefuls of immigrants to the East Coast, elites’ favorite vacation island, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
“I personally think it’s genius,” he declared.
The Australian News did a wonderful job explaining the situation as well:
Finally, the immigrants themselves said Massachusetts is wonderful. Apparently, they didn’t see this as human trafficking. Later, after instruction from their American lawyers, they tell a different story. Still, the unfiltered truth, the emotion expressed initially is what we should listen to. Yes, America is a good place. We are a welcoming place. When we have the opportunity, we treat everyone well, no matter who they are.
However, we have also created untold problems by unleashing the immigration floodgate, and then denying we have even done so. We need to get this problem under control, for our nation’s good and for the good of those who would come here. We do indeed need to stop using immigrants as pawns, but we also need to tell the truth about what’s really happening.
Seek the Truth 
Thought you might enjoy weighing in on this one: https://jilldennison.com/2022/09/23/filosofa-rants-yet-again/
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Yes, thanks.
I responded with a counter: https://seek-the-truth.com/2022/10/01/giorgia-meloni-and-defending-faith-and-values/
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