So two weeks ago Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Texas governor Greg Abbott did a despicable thing. They took groups of legal asylum seekers, migrants to this country trying to escape strife in their own, and tricked them. These migrants were working through the established system and being temporarily (1-2 days) housed until they could go join their family member or charitable organization that would house them as they sought freedom and work until their court date.
The Republican governors gave them fake brochures advertising other services, put them on planes, and shipped them like cattle to Martha’s Vineyard, away from their intended housing and court dates (many of which were already in place). They also deliberately bussed them to places like VP Harris’s house instead of the actual courthouse or other facilities where they needed to go, forcing them to walk around until they could find resources.
They did this as a stunt to say “look, even liberals get upset at immigrants!” But the people of Martha’s Vineyard stepped up and helped, because that’s what you do for fellow human beings. You don’t make it more difficult for them to play to the underlying racism of your fan base to earn future Presidential votes. DeSantis tries to blame “Biden’s immigration stance” but 1) It’s mostly Trump-era policies still in place for border security except for family separation and 2) The system was working as well as it could for these folks until he messed it up and now these people could miss their court dates and get deported because of the meddling.
Following Trump’s playbook of calling Mexicans rapists, DeSantis is clearly planning to run on similar racist sentiments and this was part of that move. Luckily, Americans are better than that.
This past Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day. Take a moment to check your registration and vote in the upcoming midterms. Democrats aren’t a spectacular party most of the time, either, but DeSantis, Abbott, and their cronies are openly treating people as subhuman because they know they’ll be praised for it. Prove them wrong. And if you’re banking on never facing the danger of being treated as a pawn like this because you’re “here legally”, I emphasize again that these people are also here legally. They just aren’t white.