Migration dispute out of control
White House likens governors to smugglers
9/17/2022 1:36 am
In protest against US President Biden’s immigration policy, Republican governors are having migrants brought to democratic parts of the country. More such campaigns are planned in Florida. The White House calls them “dangerous” and “disgusting.”
The US government has again sharply condemned the actions of several Republican governors to bring migrants to democratic parts of the country in protest. “It’s dangerous. You’re endangering the lives of children. You’re endangering the lives of families,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. “These vulnerable migrants were reportedly misled about where they were going.” They were also deceived about what to expect when they arrived, having been promised aid. “This is the type of tactic we see used by smugglers in countries like Mexico and Guatemala.”
The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, wants to further exploit migrants with high-profile actions for political purposes. He announced that he would continue to create people in democratic parts of the country. “There will also be buses, and there will probably be more flights,” DeSantis said. “We want to make sure that taxpayers (in Florida) don’t have to foot the bill for tens of thousands or thousands of people who enter the country illegally. And this is the most effective way to do that.”
DeSantis had unannounced on Wednesday several dozen migrants brought by plane to the island of Martha’s Vineyard in the state of Massachusetts. It is known as a posh resort. The migrants had been flown to the island from the US state of Texas via Florida – according to DeSantis voluntarily. He claimed they were chosen because they originally wanted to come to Florida from Texas. If they did come to Florida, it would come at a high cost to communities, he said. “We’re trying to avoid that.”
The US media said that many of the migrants did not know where they were actually being taken. Many of them were eventually taken to a military base on Cape Cod on Friday. There they are to be housed in dormitories and provided with food. They are mostly people from Venezuela. The country has been suffering from a severe political and economic crisis for years. Around six million Venezuelans have left their homeland.
Other Republican governors had also sent large numbers of migrants to democratic regions of the country in recent months – in protest against the migration policy of President Biden’s government. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday had two buses full of migrants brought near the residence of US Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington. Jean-Pierre said a child who was among the migrants dropped off in Washington on Thursday had to be taken to an emergency room. She called the governors’ actions “inhumane” and “disgusting.”