EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — Republican governors are escalating their partisan tactic of sending migrants to Democratic strongholds without advance warning, including a wealthy summer enclave in Massachusetts and the home of Vice President Kamala Harris, to taunt leaders of immigrant-friendly “sanctuary” cities and stoke opposition to Biden administration border policies.
The
governors of Texas and Arizona have sent thousands of migrants on buses to New
York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in recent months. But the latest surprise
moves — which included two flights to Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday paid for by
Florida — reached a new level of political theater that critics derided as
inhumane.
Upon arrival
in Martha’s Vineyard, where former President Barack Obama has a home, the
migrants who are predominantly from Venezuela were provided with meals,
shelter, health care and information about where to find work.
The vacation
island south of Boston, whose year-round residents include many blue-collar
workers, appeared to absorb the dozens of arrivals without a major hitch.
Elizabeth
Folcarelli, chief executive of the nonprofit Martha’s Vineyard Community
Services, was wrapping up work when she saw 48 Venezuelans with luggage and
backpacks approach her office. They carried red folders with brochures for her
organization.
“They were told that they would have a job.
and they would have housing,” said Folcarelli, who described the scramble for
shelter as a “huge challenge.”
Migrants
played soccer and hung out in small groups on the porch of their temporary
shelter Thursday while meeting visiting attorneys who gave free advice and other
service providers.
Well-wishers
dropped off donations, and volunteers signed up to provide whatever help the
could offer. There were no signs of protest.
The
president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Domingo Garcia, said
that some of the migrants sent on buses from Texas to Washington, D.C. were
“tricked” — an allegation that The Associated Press has not confirmed and that
officials in Texas and Arizona have denied.
Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis said the flights to Martha’s Vineyard were part of an effort to
“transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.” The Florida
Legislature has earmarked $12 million to transport “unauthorized aliens” out of
state.
DeSantis’
office didn’t answer questions about where migrants boarded planes and how they
were coaxed into making the trip.
Massachusetts
state Sen. Julian Cyr told The Vineyard Gazette that one plane originated in
San Antonio, raising questions about whether migrants ever set foot in Florida.
Flight tracking data shows a flight originated in San Antonio, stopped in
Crestview, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina, before landing in Martha’s
Vineyard.
The two buses
of migrants from Texas that arrived early Thursday outside Harris’ residence at
the United States Naval Observatory carried more than 100 migrants from
Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.
“The
Biden-Harris administration continues ignoring and denying the historic crisis
at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities
for almost two years,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has poured billions of
taxpayer dollars into making border security a signature issue.
California
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has publicly feuded with DeSantis and Abbot
over their conservative policies, on Thursday asked the U.S. Department of
Justice to investigate whether transporting migrants across state lines as
“political props” broke the law.
“Transporting
families, including children, across state lines under false pretenses is
morally reprehensible, but it may also be illegal,” Newsom wrote in a letter to
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that he also posted on his Twitter
account.
Without
mentioning DeSantis or Abbot by name, Newsom suggested the federal government
could bring charges of kidnapping and “civil rights conspiracy” because the
migrants were targeted because of their national origin.
After
migrants seeking asylum cross the U.S.-Mexico border, they spend time in a U.S.
Customs and Border Protection facility along the border until they are
generally released into the U.S. to wait out their cases. Republicans say
Biden’s policies encourage migrants to vanish into the U.S.; Democrats argue
the Trump-era policy of forcing migrants to wait out their asylum cases in
Mexico was inhumane.
White House
press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that federal officials were
not told in advance by the Republican governors who sent the migrants to
Massachusetts and Washington.
“We’re
talking about children, we’re talking about families who were promised a home,
promised a job, put on a bus and driven to a place that they do not know,” said
Jean-Pierre, who called the governors’ actions a “cruel, premeditated political
stunt.”
Abbott has
bused 7,900 migrants to Washington since April, later sending 2,200 to New York
and 300 to Chicago. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has bused more than 1,800 migrants
to Washington since May. Passengers must sign waivers that the free trips are
voluntary.
DeSantis
appears to be taking the strategy to a new level by using planes and choosing
Martha’s Vineyard, whose harbor towns that are home to about 15,000 people are
far less prepared than New York or Washington for large influxes of migrants.
Texas and
Florida have infuriated officials in destination cities by failing to provide
passenger rosters, estimated times of arrival and other information that would
make it easier to prepare. In contrast, Arizona has coordinated with officials
in other cities.
President
Joe Biden is facing the same challenges that dogged his predecessor, former
President Donald Trump: a dysfunctional asylum system in the United States, and
economic and social conditions that are prompting people from dozens of countries
to flee.
U.S.
authorities stopped migrants crossing from Mexico about 2 million times from
October through July, up nearly 50% from the same period a year earlier. Many
are released in the United States to pursue their immigration cases because U.S.
authorities have struggled to expel them to their countries under a
pandemic-era rule that denies them a chance to seek asylum.
Some
Republicans celebrated the latest delivery of migrants from border states.
“Welcome to
being a state on the Southern border, Massachusetts,” tweeted DeSantis
spokesman Jeremy Redfern.
Stephen
Miller, a chief architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said bringing “a few
million” migrants to Martha’s Vineyard should transform the island of about
15,000 people into “a modern Eden.”
Florida
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist said DeSantis is treating the
migrants inhumanely. “It’s amazing to me what he’s willing to do for sheer
political gain,” Crist said.
Talia
Inlender, deputy director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy, said
the flights to Martha’s Vineyard appear to violate Florida law that they be limited
to “unauthorized aliens.”
“These folks
are not unauthorized,” she said. “They aren’t flying under the radar in any
way.”
Associated
Press writers Steve LeBlanc in Boston, Seung Min Kim in Washington, Brendan
Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida, Gisela Salomon in Miami, Anita Snow in
Phoenix, Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, and Adam Beam in Sacramento, California
,contributed.