GOP Governors Send Immigrants North

By Rebecca Altman ‘24
Republican governors in Florida, Texas and Arizona have sent busloads of southern migrants to northern states this year, displaying their frustration with America’s immigration policies. These governors are also forcing other states to take responsibility for these migrants’ needs. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent two buses of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in the nation’s capital. Volunteers were surprised and unprepared to assist these migrants. 
A large percentage of the migrants were Venezuelan asylum seekers, coming to America with few belongings carried in trash bags. 
Abbott justified his actions, tweeting, "VP Harris claims our border is 'secure' & denies the crisis. We are sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border." 
“I believe that it is selfish and inhumane for people to use real lives, lives who are seeking safety, to prove a point to our government, ” said junior Eliana Finkel.
Abbott has transferred several thousand migrants to Washington, New York and Chicago- all cities with Democratic mayors. 
New York Mayor Eric Adams called for a state of emergency because of the overwhelming number of migrants arriving in the city. 
Domingo Garcia, National President of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said, "They were just literally dumped like human garbage in front of the vice president's house. That's un-Christian un-Texan, un-American and something that should not be allowed." 
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida also sent two planes carrying migrants from San Antonio, Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a fancy resort island in Massachusetts. 
Volunteers were again caught unprepared, yet residents quickly gathered supplies such as food and clothes, assembling even more than needed with many townspeople eager to pitch in. 
It is currently unknown whether the migrants even knew they were being sent to northern towns and cities. DeSantis believes that “Every community in America should be sharing in the burdens. It shouldn’t all fall on a handful of red states.” 
Junior Rex Borgenicht agreed, saying “the progressive states are wrong, just wrong. They [southern border states] cannot handle these people… it would be nice but [they] just cannot provide for these people.”
DeSantis is also being investigated for misusing funds intended for COVID public health to transfer these migrants. He claims that the migrants had intentions to come to Florida, but no evidence has been found to support this.  According to the New York Times, members of Governor Abbott’s office were privately upset about Desantis’s involvement in Texas.
A third governor, Republican Doug Ducey of Arizona, has also sent migrants to the Vice President’s residence in Washington, DC, as well as New York City and Chicago. Ducey has so far sent fifty buses of migrants to the nation’s capital, claiming that this is a response to “little action or assistance from the federal government.” 
David Hernandez, an Arizona state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, responded, saying “The dehumanization of people needs to stop. Stop the dehumanization of people. Who are you or anybody else to say somebody is not a person deserving of dignity and respect? All of those immigrants and refugees and asylum seekers have moms.”
Since these states have struggled to house many migrants, they have resorted to misplacing the many homeless or displaced people, and the federal government has yet to come to an agreement about the current housing and safety situation of these migrants.
The tensions stemming from undocumented immigrants crossing the Mexican border into Texas has sparked public outcry and an empathetic response from the Americans, along with angry political maneuvering from others.