There is no sugarcoating it anymore — we have an immigration crisis on our hands. The recent displays by Governor Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida have put it on full display in more ways than one.
On Sept. 14, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew around 50 Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio, Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. This is the latest in a wave of action taken by Republican governors to ease the strain of the massive influx of migrants coming across their borders.
However, this case is unique. Before DeSantis’ action, only border state governors — namely Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona — bused migrants out of their states northward. Florida, on the other hand, is not a border state and therefore is not being directly harmed by the influx of immigrants.
All this to say, DeSantis’ action comes from a clearly different purpose — power. Abbott and Ducey had the excuse of immigration and its impact on border towns and cities. DeSantis does not have that justification.
Facing harsh criticism, DeSantis has claimed to be addressing the issues Biden is unwilling to fix by helping migrants land in safer sanctuary cities. Any further examination will reveal this move as a political stunt, for the purpose of DeSantis gaining political clout within the further radicalizing Republican party.
DeSantis might be genuinely worried about the border, but it’s clear that this action is purely for his own gain. It has been revealed that Florida’s methods for transporting migrants were highly manipulative, involving lying and a dehumanizing horse-and-carrot trick to convince unaware migrants to consent to the trip.
To call this action inhumane political theater is understating the depravity of it. To use migrants as political pawns, especially those from Venezuela, who have come for the explicit purpose of asylum seeking during a time of historic economic crisis is absolutely abhorrent.
However heinous this act may be, it has highlighted the many problems with inconsistent democratic rhetoric surrounding migrant sanctuaries.
For the record number of migrants entering the U.S. through the southern border, the process of gaining asylum status has become all too difficult and muddy. The size of immigration courts as well as the pace at which cases are being addressed is abysmally low. Asylum cases have been backlogged for years, making the average wait time for a hearing nearly four and a half years.
For those coming to traffic dangerous and illegal goods, applying for an unfounded asylum claim could easily extend the time in which they remain in the country. Meanwhile, the vast majority of legitimate asylum seekers, many of whom hand themselves over and end up in detention centers for extended periods of time, must wait for years to gain the protections granted to residents of the United States.
We quite simply are not prioritizing the needs of those who we have historically stated we intend to protect.
To be fair, this is not a result of Biden’s policies. However, the problem is clearly becoming worse, with new records of arrests being broken and an ongoing drug crisis marking a time of historically high immigration. In the face of an ever-worsening problem, more must be done to securely and quickly process immigrants while holding them in safe, healthy spaces while they wait.
As for us here in Raleigh, we need to provide more infrastructure to protect asylum-seeking immigrants. As a key stop along I-95 connecting to some of the biggest cities in the country, immigrants are constantly passing through. As an agricultural state with rapidly growing urban centers, there is plenty of work available both in the city and outside of it.
We, as a city and a state, can do much more to ease the strain of immigration off the southern border states. The first, very basic step is establishing the state as a place of sanctuary and enhancing the welfare we provide for our poorest citizens. At the very least, we should remove SB 145, a bill that allows the state government to remove public funding for any public institution that enacts sanctuary policies. From there, we can continue reforming NC State to be a safe place for all people.
DeSantis, however inhumanely he did it, has pointed out a hypocrisy rife in the United States. So-called sanctuaries for migrants have done very little to truly provide actual sanctuary beyond not kicking them out — a pretty low bar, all things considered.
In North Carolina, we need to step up to the plate and provide protections for asylum seekers. The federal government has for decades promised to provide them with the security and safety they need. It’s time for us to live up to that promise.
