Democrats and Republicans have amplified their bursts of insult-hurling, name-calling, and weaponizing of words like “humanitarian” and “invasion” in politically pandering sentences. It’s all due to the one-upmanship of two southern governors who appear to have had enough of the responsibility-dodging from the current administration on the subject of illegal immigration. As the Abbott Express continues busing folks coming across the border to designated sanctuary cities, DeSantis Air is now polling positive with the must-be-swayed swing voters after dropping 50 passengers at Martha’s Vineyard.
According to a recent YouGov poll, 62% of Americans believe illegal immigration is a problem. The survey found that most middle-class Americans — earning $50,000 to $100,000 a year — support Florida and Texas’ efforts to share their illegal immigrants with sanctuary cities like Chicago, New York, and the District of Columbia. But the line item that has Republicans crossing fingers and Democrats losing sleep? Forty-four percent of Independents approve of transporting immigrants to the backyards of open-border advocates, compared with 38% who do not.
Although DC Mayor Muriel Bowser flipped out and Vice President Kamala Harris had several unwelcome visitors on her front porch, much of the American public appear to believe its time these migrant safe spaces start walking the walk. As they might say in the Lone Star State, most are all hat and no cattle when it comes to sanctuary city governance.
While Texas has long been faced with the burden of illegal border-crossers, DeSantis Air in particular has brought national attention to the issue. This is where they could make a considerable difference: by capturing the game-changing Independent vote. And that is news in the partisan-controlled politics of the day.
DeSantis Air
Ron DeSantis (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
As political stunts go, DeSantis Air was a doozy: luxury travel, no places for migrants to hop off in other communities to disappear, and the swankiest destination chock-full of open-borders billionaires, millionaires, celebrities, former presidents, and more. It was as if the good governor of Florida instinctively knew the residents would reveal their disdain for these bedraggled refugees in the most public way. And the Vineyard did not disappoint. A cool 44 hours after a shower, sandwich, and change of clothes, the now famous 50 were on their way to Joint Base Cape Cod.
Of course, there was the spectacle made by progressive immigration attorneys in front of the DeSantis Air passengers ready to board the bus to Cape Cod. Lawsuits against the Sunshine State’s leader were threatened, and lawyers liberally used the term “human trafficking.”
“This is a human rights violation. This is a constitutional violation,” Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director for Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston, said to those gathered. “And we will hold the states and perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law. This will not go unanswered.”
But apparently, the theatrical move forced folks to pay closer attention to the immigration crisis that Republicans and border states have been loudly proclaiming for years.
A Humanitarian Crisis
Midterms are fast approaching, and both dominant parties are looking for a hot button subject to move the needle to the right or left. Immigration is not going to be that issue, but it is nudging close to the economy in priority. According to the YouGov poll, 80% of voters rate immigration matters as either very or somewhat important (versus 95% for jobs and the economy). Among swing voters, this figure is 76%.
Those issues together spell defeat for Democrats if they cannot deal with the humanitarian crisis spilling into their cities and states — the same situation that Americans living in those tiny southern border towns have grappled with for decades.
