The subject of migration is a very polarizing one, even at the best of times. No matter how one swings it, most people either opt to believe that migrants are individuals simply escaping a bad situation in their country and just want a better life for themselves. Or, migration puts the country at risk, is economically untenable, and should be actively discouraged. However, no matter which side of the fence you fall, nothing will change the fact that the decision of certain state governments, most notably Texas and Florida to displace migrants to other states, is wrong on every level.
Let’s consider the implications of such actions morally and ethically. For example, Fernandez is a migrant who left his home country, Venezuela for the U.S. in May 2022. He would only arrive in early September of the same year after he was robbed of what little he had in the Darien Gap. He had to trek through Costa Rica, Nicaragua as well as parts of Mexico and Guatemala. And then there’s his friend Salvatierra, who had an even more unpleasant experience on the road. According to Salvatierra, “We embarked across the Darién with a total 339 people. About 230 reached Panama. Many died. We saw bodies … on the side of rivers. A friend traveling with his young son said he could not stop thinking of a dead child he saw. We’re fortunate to have made it this far, even if we don’t have anyone here.”
Now, the question is, how do you justify tricking and luring people who’ve been through so much already onto a bus and moving them away without a care for their welfare? The governors of Florida and Texas are both supposedly devout Roman Catholics; how can they possibly reconcile such reprehensible actions with their faith?
Moving forward, let’s contemplate the legality of such actions. The law isn’t ambiguous or nebulous on the issue; immigration policy falls under the direct purview of the federal government, not the state. Individuals like Governor Abbott of Texas attempt to monger fear, claiming that the presence of these migrants poses a major threat to the local communities in the state. Yet, the crime rates in the region remain remarkably low, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that these people are essentially harmless.
However, the way that the governor treats them isn’t. This is because, to get his “immigration policy” to work, he detains some of these migrants unjustly, infringes on their basic civil rights, and unabashedly flouts federal authority.
Florida and Texas stand on the ground that they are border states and as such, many other states don’t understand the challenges that come with dealing with migrants. They use this as a justification to bus the migrants to states where they want to “feel their pain”. Yet, some of the states that these individuals are being transported to have an even higher number of immigrants than Texas and Florida already, rendering their point moot.
Like I was at the beginning, you may also be wondering if these states don’t have an ethical, moral, or legal ground to dispel these migrants, why go through all that trouble then?
The answer is simple; for political posturing so that they can make headlines. And so, they treat people who have already been through some of the worst things imaginable like political pawns to gain cheap points. They give in to their cheap, selfish interests and show clearly everything ugly about us.
Should their actions be allowed to continue?
No, it shouldn’t. It helps no one and serves no tangible purpose.
Rather, these state governments should come to the table for intelligent deliberation so that bipartisan solutions to address the inconsistencies and inadequacies of the current immigration system can be discovered and implemented.
But until such a time comes, the basic rights of migrants all over the country must be protected.
They risked it all to come to America in search of a better life. If providing that is beyond the realm of possibility at the moment (it isn’t), the least we can do is allow them to keep their human dignity intact.
