The Biden administration announced it would consider “litigation options” against Republican governors after illegal migrants were sent from border states to Democratic sanctuary cities. At a recent meeting, Homeland Security, Justice, Defense, State departments, and White House officials discussed border issues amid record numbers of migrants entering the U.S. illegally.
The meeting was scheduled before Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis decided to send two charter planes full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, an affluent island off the coast of Massachusetts. Yet, months after, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent busloads of illegal migrants from their border states to places like Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City. Abbott also sent two busloads of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ Washington, D.C. home.
Democrats have strongly condemned the migrant busing, calling it political theater. “Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props. What they’re doing is simply wrong, it’s un-American, it’s reckless.”
“And we have a process in place to manage migrants at the border. We’re working to make sure it’s safe and orderly, and humane. Republican officials should not intervene with that process by waging these political stunts,” said the president.
Republicans have maintained the migrants have volunteered to be bused, with many saying they’re grateful for the free ride. However, others claim they thought they were being sent to different cities or states than where they arrived.
At a press conference, DeSantis said, “We are not a ‘sanctuary’ state, and it’s better to be able to go to a ‘sanctuary’ jurisdiction, and yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures. Biden would fly people in the middle of the night, dump them across this country. There was no warning on any of this, and all those people in D.C. and New York were beating their chest when Trump was president, saying they were so proud to be ‘sanctuary jurisdictions, saying how bad it was to have a secure border. The minute even a small fracture of what those border towns deal with every day is brought to their front [door], they all of a sudden go berserk, and they’re so upset that this is happening.”
DeSantis claimed the Democrats’ “virtue-signaling is a fraud.”
Governor Abbott echoed DeSantis’s statement, “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.”
“Our supposed Border Czar Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to even visit the border to see firsthand the impact of the open-border policies she has helped implement, even going so far as to claim the border is ‘secure,'” wrote Abbott.
Conservatives have slammed VP Harris for avoiding the border after the president tasked her with examining the ‘root causes’ of illegal immigration after he assumed office. Amid mounting pressure from every side, Harris visited near the border in El Paso, Texas, in June of 2021 and hasn’t returned since.
