If Republicans and Democrats Can Agree on One Thing, It’s the Dehumanization of Migrants
Art by Liam Larwood
Beginning on April 13, 2022, exploited migrants have been sent on buses to sanctuary cities throughout the country. Migrant busing refers to when political officials transport migrants seeking refuge in the United States by bus to different parts of the country. The busing program that Texas Governor Greg Abbott created has inspired many Republican governors to do the same to their migrant populations, effectively creating a displacement crisis across the United States. For the past two years, migrants from Central and Latin America entering through the Texas border have been bused to Democratic cities across the country such as New York City, Chicago, Washington D.C., and recently Los Angeles. Governor Abbott has deemed this busing program “Operation Lone Star,” which has cost Texas $4.5 billion.
The first bus from Operation Lone Star was sent to Washington D.C. in April 2022. Governor Abbott sent this bus full of migrants from various parts of Central and Latin America to D.C. as a way to catch the Biden administration’s attention to the Texas border crisis. Additionally, Abbott intended this move as a protest of the administration ending Title 42 expulsions, which were previously used by the Trump administration to justify the expulsion of immigrants entering the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mayor of D.C. had not been told to expect a bus full of migrants, so when they arrived in D.C., many nonprofit organizations and volunteers had to supply the migrants with essential resources and temporary housing.
As of August 2022, New York City has received the majority of the migrants bused from Governor Abbott’s program, with 18,500 arriving on over 390 buses. Washington D.C. has received roughly 12,500 and Los Angeles, which only started receiving migrants in June 2023, has already accrued about 940 migrants. Los Angeles has recently declared itself a “sanctuary city” that will provide temporary housing and basic necessities for immigrants, which Governor Abbott has taken as a message to send more migrants to Los Angeles. Although these bigger cities are able to supply many of these migrants with resources and temporary housing, many cities are now running out of room and supplies, as seen in Denver, where the city has had to set limits on the amount of time some are allowed to use their provided shelters. Cities across the country that are being swamped with migrants from Governor Abbott’s busing program are starting to run out of resources, which will inevitably lead to these migrants having to endure unsafe conditions. Governor Abbott’s busing program has made it clear that he does not view migrants seeking refuge as human enough to supply them with the minimal needs to live, but instead views them as a way to gain leverage over President Biden.
Governor Abbott is using human beings’ lives as a political ploy to pressure the Biden administration into passing tighter immigration legislation. With winter approaching and thousands of migrants being sent to cities such as New York and Chicago, two places that are known to have harsh winters, there is the potential for a huge humanitarian crisis where innocent lives will be lost because of the freezing temperatures and snowy conditions that migrants will be forced to endure. Since Operation Lone Star has taken place, President Biden has surrendered to the Republican Party by responding with construction on the border wall and amping up deportation of Venezuelan immigrants who are coming to America to escape Venezuela’s economic instability. Innocent lives are being exploited by Republican leaders in the hopes of political gains, which will be detrimental for the future of immigration policy in the United States.
Taxpayer money in both Republican and Democratic states is being used to fund this petty political fight. Texas has spent $12.7 million to fund the buses of its Operation Lone Star program as of mid-August. The costs do not stop here, however, with $4 billion being the total amount of state funds Texas has used altogether to fund its program. Billions of dollars are being irresponsibly spent to fund a program that will not benefit anyone involved, leaving taxpayers forced to fund an act of political pettiness. There are also additional costs that do not involve money directly, such as the time it takes to bus from Texas to New York City or the costs that Democratic cities that are enduring to support migrants.
Due to the influx of migrants without any prior notice of their arrival, Washington D.C. has had to declare a state of emergency to gain $10 million of state funds for supplying migrants with basic necessities. Although these funds will eventually be reimbursed by the federal government, millions of dollars are still being used for the purpose of providing migrants the basic needs that Governor Abbott has tried to revoke from them, as seen with the instruction made by his office to inform authorities to withhold any food and drinks from immigrants. The difference between the Democratic officials in sanctuary cities and Governor Abbott is crystal clear. The cities that are receiving migrants are using state funding to ensure they have a place to live and access to food, water, and clothing. Governor Abbott, on the other hand, is completely comfortable wasting billions of Texans’ dollars to send migrants away to sanctuary cities. Operation Lone Star effectively rids himself of any blame for not providing basic human needs to innocent people coming into this country for their own safety.
As stated previously, money is not the only cost of Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star program. When migrants arrived unannounced in New York City, many nonprofit organizations and other volunteers showed up and volunteered their time to provide the migrants with the resources they needed to maintain their health, to connect them with their families, or to endow them with resources to gain documentation in the United States. Even though these cities did not expect this influx of migrants, they have all dealt with the incoming migrants in effective and efficient ways, something Governor Abbott never tried to even do. Mass efforts are underway in sanctuary cities across the country to ensure the safety and security of migrants. People who live in cities like New York and Chicago have donated resources and volunteered their time to keep migrants safe as well.
A potential problem that cities still receiving migrants from Texas will be faced with within the next few months is the possibility of a “tripledemic” that will disproportionately affect migrants seeking a better life in America. Experts are predicting not only for COVID-19 cases to rise after Thanksgiving, but also cases of the flu and RSV to experience an uptick. Migrants are one of the groups that will suffer the most from the tripledemic due to the constant exposure to these illnesses without precautionary measures to prevent the spread of these illnesses. Under conditions such as these, it is almost impossible to prevent the spread of these illnesses that have the potential to be life-threatening in some cases. Cities receiving the migrants should be mindful of the potentiality of a tripledemic within the upcoming months and take action now to stock up on COVID-19 testing kits and other medical resources to ensure lives are not lost to these illnesses. Operation Lone Star has already seen its first casualty with the death of a three year old child who experienced a decline in health while being bused to Chicago. Governor Abbott is responsible for this child’s death and any future deterioration of health of the migrants he is busing to cities throughout the country. This practice is clearly extremely unethical and as Governor Abbott continues to constantly dehumanize migrants through Operation Lone Star, the Biden administration has slowly started to take the side of Republican leaders instead of migrants who are suffering first-hand.
Another challenge for these cities affected by displacement of migrants caused by Governor Abbott will face in the upcoming months is the harsh winter conditions, especially in New York City and Chicago. With cities running out of hotel space for migrants, they are working to create temporary emergency shelters made from tents, which will not be sustainable in the winter months. Structures made out of tents will not be able to keep out snow and insulate enough warmth for the people residing inside of them. By sending migrants to cities Governor Abbott knows they experience harsh winters, he is effectively saying that he does not care about the health and safety of these migrants. The effects of this carelessness along with the tripledemic can cost dozens of lives that Governor Abbott will be responsible for.
Governor Abbott has unfortunately inspired other Republican leaders to follow suit and send migrants across the country with no secure housing or access to resources, most notably Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. In September 2022, Governor DeSantis sent two planes full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard unannounced after filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration in regards to how the administration is handling immigration enforcement. Clearly, Governor DeSantis sent migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, which has Democratic leaders that support less restrictive immigration policies, as an act of retaliation against the Biden administration. In these planes were about fifty Venezuelans that migrated from their home country, which is currently suffering from major economic instability. Republican governors are choosing which states and cities to send these populations to with one common goal in mind: to gain political leverage over the Democratic party. The communications director from Governor DeSantis’ administration argued that by sending migrants to Democratic states and cities that provide sanctuary for migrants, Governor DeSantis is actually helping to “better facilitate the care of these individuals”. This claim by the DeSantis administration is true to a certain degree. Migrants sent to sanctuary cities are given the basic needs that all humans deserve the right to have, which the Abbott administration has instructed authorities to withhold from migrant populations being bused for days throughout the country. This dehumanization of migrants is being further exacerbated by Governor DeSantis in the case of sending migrants to Martha’s Vineyard and telling them they were going to New York or Boston, when in reality he knew he was sending them to a remote, tourist destination that is miles away from any resources for migrants to gain asylum. Migrants are being treated better in Democratic sanctuary cities in the sense that they are viewed as human beings, but by knowingly sending migrants to cities, like Martha’s Vineyard or D.C., that are overwhelmed by the influx of migrants and quickly running out of basic necessities, they are essentially putting thousands of lives at risk in the hopes of gaining petty political leverage over the Democratic party.
Governor Abbott has tried to defend himself by claiming that cities in Texas are completely overwhelmed by the influx of migrants entering the country due to the Biden administration failing to secure the border. His administration argues that Democratic cities are just getting to experience what Texas has had to deal with because of Biden’s less restrictive immigration policies, and then adds that Mayor Bowser of D.C. should “call on President Biden to do his job and secure the border” instead of complain about not having enough resources to properly take care of the thousands of migrants sent to D.C. While Texas border cities may lack the resources to properly take care of incoming migrants, it is still unethical to send migrants to cities miles away, sometimes without them knowing exactly where they are going. Innocent lives are being put at risk so that Governor Abbott and Governor DeSantis can fuel their fantasies of getting revenge on President Biden.
President Biden and his administration have now become complicit in the future outcomes of the migrant busing crisis across the United States. Instead of providing aid or funding for the cities receiving migrants, President Biden has decided that the most effective solution to this crisis is to pass more restrictive immigrant legislation, with one of the biggest decisions being to continue to build the wall that Former President Trump promised to his voters during his administration. As you may recall, President Biden has been vocal about how useless building a wall would be. He halted construction of the wall President Trump was building and pledged to never continue with the building of the wall on his first day in office in 2021. However, the Biden administration recently announced that they will be building “up to 20 miles of border barriers”, effectively waiving more than 20 federal laws to proceed with the construction of the border. Recall that the goal of Republican leaders in starting busing programs was to gain political leverage over Democratic leaders in hopes of pressuring them enough to pass more restrictive immigrant legislation. This is an extremely hypocritical move from the Biden administration that continues to claim that the border wall will not be an effective way to prevent immigrants from coming into the country illegally.
Migrants have never been fully protected and humanized in this country, and are still not, as seen with the actions of leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties. As freezing temperatures are upon us, we will see thousands of migrants suffer at the hands not only of Republican leaders such as Governor Abbott and Governor DeSantis, but also President Biden who caved into the pressures of Republican leaders. The potential of a huge humanitarian crisis is underway in the United States with both parties trying to keep silent about their actions that dehumanize immigrants who are coming to the United States with the hopes of creating a better life for themselves and the generations to come.