You want New York, Washington DC and Chicago to solve the problem the same way Texas did? You would be o.k. if all those refugees were shipped off without prior approval (let alone warning) to someplace nice and warm…like Texas or Arizona?
Sorry, we leave the heartless political theatrics to the professionals.
Could it be the billions of federal funding they get? Nah, that can’t be it. NYC and Chicago are just whiners.
I dont remember that at all.
And the Border is NOT open. That’s another GOP Big Lie.
It is true that during Covid there was a massive decline in border crossing.
There have been three spikes in border crossings- During Reagan, during Clinton, and yes now. There was a rather large spike after Covid in 2019, however. During trump.
But mostly, they are not coming from Mexico as much now, they 63% are coming from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, then Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba.
Now, and here’s the big question- how are they hurting you? They do jobs Americans dont want and in some cases maybe cant do. Migrants have a lower rate of crime than citizens. Do you eat strawberries? Lettuce? Who do you think cleans hotel rooms?
The Washington Examiner is about on par with the Weekly World News and its coverage of Elvis, Bat Boy and UFOs.
Those people are not “illegals” , they have entered legally under sponsorship/parole. They have work permits.
Unless you are 100% native American, your ancestors also emigrated here. Mine did- okay, 3-4 generations ago, but we are (almost) all migrants here.
You are right, based on logic. But many voters don’t rely on logic, they react to their emotions.
Suppose somebody going to work as usual suddenly sees the sidewalk blocked by a camp full of Hispanic refugees that were dumped there. He isnt going to think “gee those republican congressmen should have allocated funds.” He is going to think “Biden is in charge now, and now my sidewalk is blocked.When Trump was in charge, it wasn’t blocked.”
This could cost votes for the Dems.
By that logic everything could cost votes for Democrats, so why waste time on it?
And no, I reject your premise. In the cities affected, they know those refugees were bused in by Republicans. It’s all over the news. It’s a losing gambit for the right. At least nationally. It might get Republicans in Texas and Florida some credit among the locals there, but at the expense of any Republican who wants to run anywhere near the places harmed.
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It’s not “the Feds” shipping people to New York and Chicago - it’s the governors of Texas and Florida, both of whom are trying to make a political statement and score political points from their version of human trafficking.
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What the hell do you think is going to happen by dumping people in a National Park? There is minimal to no housing in such places. Doing that where I live will kill people because being outside without shelter in a Chicago winter is lethal. Even people familiar with the climate get injured and killed by winter weather every year, people without that knowledge will be even more vulnerable.
Frankly, I’m disgusted by the NIMBYism and obstructionism being displayed in the Chicago area. I get that there are some legitimate reasons to be upset (no one wants random busloads of people just dumped on their neighborhoods) but we have to deal with the reality on the ground.
Meanwhile, Abbott and DeSantos are laughing themselves sick because their tactics are doing exactly what they want them to do - move the people they don’t like elsewhere, and make things more difficult for the Democratically controlled areas where they dump them.
Meanwhile, the refugees/asylum seekers are just pawns - they’re arriving in Chicago all too often having had no food, water, or bathroom breaks on the trip from Texas or Florida, people in need of daily medication have had it confiscated from them meaning some of them wind up in the hospital due to a preventable crisis, and are otherwise being treated as cargo rather than human beings. Given that the weather, even in winter, is significantly warmer than the southern border they’re now arriving without adequate clothing.
Abbott doesn’t care that his actions can kill people. Because he doesn’t regard these people as people. To him, they’re just pawns on a chessboard.
Asylum seekers can get work permits from the Federal government allowing them to do exactly that - BUT at present Congress isn’t issuing additional work permits. Pretty sure that is somehow connected to political games and the current dysfunction in Clowngress.
It would also help if “the Feds” hired more judges for the asylum process, but the current Congress is doing everything it can to avoid getting ANY judges under Biden. Again, political games.
Even under the current laws there are many things that could be done to alleviate the problems, even if not eliminate them, but the Republicans are determined to sabotage government when there’s a Democrat in the White House in order to try to score political points. Clearly, the majority of the Republicans are putting Party before Country.
I question how “voluntary” that choice is.
We have people showing up who have walked to Texas from Venezuela and even points further south. They are walking that distance. That’s not something a person does on a whim and generally implies a level of desperation I, personally, hope to never experience. Is it “voluntary” if a person has a significant chance of death if they don’t start moving? Anyone who expects people to quietly lay down and die is going to be sorely disappointed again and again. When conditions get bad enough people start leaving and they don’t feel it’s a “choice”.
Is everyone crashing our borders that desperate? No - but a good number of them are. This is not just a problem of borders and our own politics, it’s a problem that starts elsewhere. I guess discussing WHY people are making such desperate journeys and how that can be solved at the point of origin just isn’t sexy for a lot of people in this country.
That’s why I always thought the notion of a wall to be stupid - someone walking thousands of miles is not going to be much daunted by a 50 foot wall. People in Central and South America have heard of ladders, as well as shovels and tunnels.
Because, unlike Abbott, the mayors of those cities have some empathy for their fellow humans.
As I already posted, those buses are showing up here with people who haven’t had food or water since they left Texas. Texas authorities are confiscating medications so some of the arrivals wind up going straight to a hospital due to untreated medical conditions. No baby formula, so if mom isn’t breastfeeding then babies showing up who haven’t been fed for the entire bus ride.
And you just want them to make a U-turn back to Texas? Another day or two on a bus without food or water or needed medication?
The Chicago government is asking for notice of these arrivals so the people can be met with food, water, and people who speak Spanish so any immediate needs can be attended to. What is the reaction by Abbott? Make arrivals unannounced and as random as possible, send them to the suburbs, and basically make this situation as chaotic and disruptive as possible. Near as I can tell, for Abbott cruelty is the point.
Absolutely - but that should be done in a planned and thoughtful way, not randomly dumping busloads of people in scattered locations.
If you do it in a planned manner then there can be equitable distribution of migrants. Arrivals can be met with people capable of translating for them and helping them access shelter, food, and other needs on arrival. We won’t have to have people sleeping on sidewalks which, this time of year where I live, can and does kill people unprepared for the weather.
But that would require the clowns in Washington DC and the state legislatures to put country before party and they just aren’t willing to do that these days.
I have a few contacts within the city government
You get that there are legitimate reasons to be upset, but are disgusted by the NIMBYism? How much is NW IN ponying up for migrants? Setting up some tents? 
My main question is - what exactly is Chicago supposed to do with the people, and where is the money to come from? And I find persuasive complaints from long time resident citizens who question why there is money to spend for the new arrivals, when they have long heard that money is lacking for anti-poverty programs.
Alright people, pay attention, and I’m going to show you exactly why asking for cites is so important.
Saint_Cad (and others) have spent this thread insisting that the Feds are processing migrants in border states and then just leaving them there, for poor broke Texas to pick up the burden all on its own.
Here’s what the f’ing Washington Times cite actually says:
See that? Biden was moving them AWAY from Texas, specifically to areas where they could provide more FEDERAL RESOURCES. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE WHAT YOU WERE INSISTING!
Let’s have a repeat performance, again with the Washington Post cite:
You ask why the federal government isn’t moving people away from the border to where they can be processed? Guess what! You just gave me two cites showing that you’re already getting what you wanted!
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY WE ASK FOR CITES. Fortunately I subscribe to WaPo and could read that one. Fortunately the WashTimes article had a usable graf above the fold. I’m not an NYT subscriber so I can’t see the NYT article at all. Perhaps loyal NYT subscriber Saint_Cad, who has surely read the full article, would be willing to share the relevant excerpt?
I was going to respond to that, too.
The first cite says:
DHS is working with shelters in each of the cities in advance of moving migrants.
So that’s one case of the feds paying to move refugess to where there are federal resources to help them.
The second cite is mostly about how Maine is supporting a lot of migrants, in part because Maine has a population problem (old and falling) and sees this as an investment in its future. But it also says that Republican governors are shipping migrants around to places without resources:
To try to get the Biden administration’s attention, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, both Republicans, have sent thousands of newly arrived migrants on buses to Washington in recent months. Mr. Abbott has also sent buses to New York City, where officials say the shelter system now temporarily houses 5,700 asylum seekers. Both cities were not prepared to assist so many people, and officials and volunteers have been scrambling to help shelter them and get them to their desired destinations. Mr. Abbott recently started busing migrants to Chicago, too.
The third cite says
In just a single week in late September, the Department of Homeland Security ran 79 “decompression buses” and made 29 “decompression flights” to shuttle illegal immigrants away from border locations in Arizona and Texas to places where the department said it had more capacity to handle them.
So, that’s another example of the fed PAYING to care for migrants, and trying to move them to places with adequate resources.
The fourth is an opinion piece that starts with a bunch of garbage, so I didn’t read it.
Anyway, it’s clear that you are wrong, and that your own cites say you are wrong. I think it’s time for you to
p.s. I also work (a little) with refugees, and agree that there is no issue with underfunded refugees. Yes, we raise money to help them get established, but they have a lot of resources and the fed is a substantial part of their resources.
Folks in this discourse need to understand that the conversation we’re having right now is the end result of an elaborate disinformation campaign and series of media stunts by right-wing operatives.
The primary goal of this stunt is to use migrants to set up a morality play to own the libs. There is no intention of solving the issue; it’s framed deceptively as a complicated terrifying problem that has no solution, and can be laid at Biden’s feet.
This requires the dissemination of a several related lies, specificially:
- “Why isn’t Biden doing anything?” Well, he actually is.
- “Aha! You admit Biden is moving immigrants!” Biden is moving them using federal funds to places that are federally funded and prepared to handle them.
- “Well, why can Biden do that and Greg Abbott can’t?” Greg Abbott isn’t the federal government, he’s not coordinating with the federal government, he’s dumping them on the roadside in the dead of night specifically so he can make the Feds’ job harder, taking a swipe at “sanctuary cities” and looking tough to Texans.
- “well we still have a problem with so many illegals coming over the border”. OK. Let’s raise the refugee ceiling and ensure that process is funded. Then those people won’t come to the border, they can apply at the consulate in their home country.
- “you want more refugees? look at all the refugees swarming the border! we’re not paying for more of that!”
As you can see this conversation is designed to go exactly nowhere. Solutions exist, but this media op is not intended to solve the problem. It’s to hit all the emotional notes that drive right-wingers insane with indignation. “Hypocritical sanctuary cities, bah! We’ll show those blue-haired blue-city pansies the consequences of their choices!”
I am not trying to attack Saint_Cad here, we can assume you are sincerely trying to solve the problem as it is being presented to you by bad-faith actors in your media ecosystem. But I am begging you take a close look at primary sources when we’re pointing out that the facts don’t add up to what you think it does, and ask yourself if it’s possible that your anger is being instrumentalized to help spread false narratives.
Please provide a reference we can look up for that.
Don’t stand on one foot while you wait!
I just wanted to repeat and emphasize this, as I think it’s absolutely a KEY thing that should be done. More effort by everyone to counter the bullshit Republican propaganda campaign would not hurt either. Good job to the folks here who have done just that.
Speaking of empty virtue signaling,
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
I guess it’s OK when it’s the entire country is empty virtue signaling in it’s aspirational, chosen, national identity.
While @mundylion can speak for themselves, I’m pretty sure that the question asked and so answered was about decriminalizing illegal border crossing, rather than the “open borders” bugaboo of right wing media.
While said right-wing media tends to conflate the two issues, they aren’t the same.
I would encourage anyone interested what decriminalization is all about to do a little reading:
tl;dr summary of the above: immigration enforcement is not done criminally, and would still happen even after decriminalization - it’s not “open borders”; criminal prosecution, however, can happen as an additional penalty, which several recent administrations have emphasized; criminal punishment of border crossers led directly to Trump’s family separation policies; decriminalization would remove this tool from the executive’s toolbox, though (depending on specifics) it might make prosecution of some offenses more difficult.
Who said this? Do you have a cite for this?
Sanctuary cities accept tons of migrants. They have designated facilities for doing so. Had Greg Abbott bused the migrants to those facilities, they would have gotten federally funded help. Instead, he dropped them roadside in the middle of nowhere at 4AM, specifically to keep them away from facilities that could help them, to create maximum confusion and hardship.
This is why it’s obvious Republicans are clearly trying to own the libs with these stunts. Conservatives’ highest form of knee-slapping fun is poking libs in the eye and saying “now it’s your turn, let’s see how you like it!” That doesn’t work very well if you transport migrants to the intended facility during fully staffed hours.
“But Texas doesn’t get any notice blah blah” yeah we already understand this is purely to cause chaos to make a point. We got it, loud and clear.