by Xin Ping
Horse-mounted U.S. border patrol agents cracking their whips by the riverside, frightening unarmed migrants back into waist-deep water — the haunting image from Del Rio a year ago may be a scar on the heart of those who have one, but not U.S. politicians jostling for power in their spotless offices. They couldn’t care less if there is a humanitarian crisis at the border or 53 human lives were lost for nothing in a tracker-trailer in San Antonio. That is, until it becomes politically profitable.
With the midterm elections coming closer, all of sudden "the border has come to D.C.", as described by Vanity Fair.
To pressure and spite Democrats, Republicans have developed an unusual interest in dropping humans like bombs at Democrats’ doorstep.
Bloomberg reports that Texas bused more than 10,000 migrants to Washington, New York City and Chicago since April this year. Not even the Vice President was spared; Greg Abbott sent 100 migrants to her D.C. home to make a point.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seems to have a taste for drama; he flew two planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, a summer resort in Massachusetts. For a trip that would only cost a few hundreds in normal times, a staggering 615,000 dollars was paid, roughly 12,300 each. The air charter company was widely reported as having ties to the Florida Governor.
Dozens of migrants thus transported claimed that they had been misled and lured in. One Venezuelan said he was asked to "sign a document in exchange for a 10-dollar McDonald gift card".
Democrats were feeling the heat. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency. New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned the city’s shelter system was "nearing its breaking point".
A war of words followed. Adams called the Republican move "a blight on our entire country", an "erosion of basic human rights". Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot accused Republicans of "manufacturing a human crisis". California Governor Gavin Newsom urged an investigation into DeSantis for kidnapping.
From the other side, a scornful DeSantis derided Democrats for "going berserk" when the migrants they receive were only a small fraction of what "border towns deal with everyday". Abbott took it to Twitter, "Leaders in New York City & D.C. weren’t concerned about the border crisis until it reached their cities". Republicans argued that Democrats, who tucked themselves safe behind border states, were sacrificing security and order in border towns for political gains with their cheap promise of citizenship to migrants.
Also joining the fray was the federal government, which completely positioned itself along the party line. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre came out all guns blazing for the Democrat party line, calling Republicans "shameful" "plain wrong" and "disrespectful to humanity", phrases that would have been more appropriately used for what happened in Del Rio and San Antonio. In those tragedies, the federal government was as much to blame as the State of Texas.
The political attention that migrants have always needed is finally here, though not exactly the way they would have wanted it. After having their futures ruined and humanity debased in Washington’s political squabbles and trade-offs, these innocent individuals seeking and deserving a decent life now find themselves being completely instrumentalized in this war of America against America.
(The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News Agency, Global Times, CGTN, China Daily, etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.)
