Migrants are 'political pawns' in GOP-Dems fight over border chaos
5 Min Read
Migrant casualties continue to rise as Republican governors from Texas to Florida fight to deport migrants coming from Latin America - calling the border control chaos a failure of the Biden administration.
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Migrants in Washington D.C. near VP Harris' residence (Getty Images)
Following White House secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's statement that sending migrants to Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C. by GOP governors is a maneuver of an "illegal stunt", Texas governor Greg Abbott responded by calling out the Biden administration for failing to acknowledge the dire situation of the US southern border - but the GOP politicians have been exploiting the migrants who they keep deliberately "shoving" left and right across the country, using them as a pressure card for the Democratic party and the White House.
Even after Jean-Pierre assured that the migrants voluntarily signed a waiver that was already available in multiple languages before getting into the busses, Abbott's office echoed its claims that both President Joe Biden and who Abbott called "Border Czar" Vice President Kamala Harris were failing to resolve the migrant conflict at the border, where Texas is the first stop.
Abbott's press secretary, Renae Eze, stated: "Instead of their hypocritical complaints about Texas providing much-needed relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities, President Biden and Border Czar Harris need to step up and do their jobs to secure the border—something they continue failing to do".
In Florida, we take what is happening at the southern border seriously.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 15, 2022
We are not a sanctuary state, and we will gladly facilitate the transport of illegal immigrants to sanctuary jurisdictions. pic.twitter.com/YeEbMzy8yG
Migrants as 'political pawns'
Martha's Vineyard, an island belonging to the state of Massachusetts, received planes with mainly Venezuelan migrants on Wednesday, a move credited to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. According to Taryn Fenske, DeSantis' communications director, the Florida legislature ratified $12 million for the transportation of undocumented migrants from the state consistent with federal law.
Thursday morning witnessed two buses of migrants from the US-Mexico border were sent by Abbott to a location near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., followed by a tweet that he dropped off the migrants in her “backyard” and called on the Biden administration to “do its job & secure the border.” Just a week earlier, Abbott sent approximately 75 migrants to Chicago.
Arizona governor Doug Ducey followed suit with this approach, sending busses of immigrants to Washington D.C., disclosing in a news release that the voluntary bus trips are considered necessary as a result of “little action or assistance from the federal government.”
During a press conference on Thursday, Jean-Pierre said the series of putting the migrants on busses "is just cruel, and it's not about the process. Actually, It's about a political tool or political stunt that they're moving forward with," as she further accused the Republican governors of exploiting migrants as "political pawns."
Notorious border patrol agents
The fiscal year 2022 already recorded 1.8 million arrests of migrants by US border agents. Since the start of Joe Biden's term in office, more than one million migrants have entered the US, per figures cited by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The process goes as follows: after migrants cross the US-Mexico border, a CBP facility hosts them before being released by border officials and are served documents to appear in court, after which they are no longer in federal custody and are free to travel across the country, but many remain in waiting months for case hearings due to legal and procedural backlogs.
US CBP agents are notorious for the abuse and mistreatment of both migrants and the procedures of keeping them safe, as they flee dangerous regions to find security. Human Rights Watch found last year October shocking cases of sexual and physical abuse of asylum seekers at the southern US border by federal authorities, following a years-long struggle to extract evidence from the Department of Homeland Security. The abuses range from juvenile sexual abuse to forced starvation, rape threats, and harsh incarceration circumstances.
The Washington Post also revealed a photo in September of last year of a Border Patrol officer on horseback grabbing Haitian migrants with one hand, and what appeared to be a whip in the other hand.
Furthermore, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has cautioned in June that the US is struggling to manage its southern border, accusing it of "lack of control" after more than 50 immigrants were killed while being smuggled into the country.
The grim discovery was one of the worst disasters involving migrants in recent years, and it occurred five years after a similar deadly incident in the same central Texas city, just hours from the Mexican border.
Republicans have pointed fingers at Joe Biden for his adamancy to “undo everything former President Donald Trump had done” leading to the chaos at the southern border, condemning Biden's “open border policies” and the diminishing of a number of restrictive measures against illegal migrants set in place by the former president, Donald Trump.
