With an enormous migrant crisis at the southern border that has seen millions of migrants cross illegally during the Biden administration, and with no end in sight, Republican governors are taking increasingly aggressive action to push back.
The move this week by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to fly two planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard marks the latest such example of unorthodox and aggressive tactics by governors to bring pressure on the Biden administration and relief to overwhelmed border communities facing an unprecedented migrant wave.
In a move first reported by Fox News Digital, DeSantis sent approximately 50 migrants to the top vacation hotspot for liberal elites. It sparked outrage from Democrats and the White House, who accused DeSantis of acting cruelly and treating migrants like political pawns.
"They used them as political pawns — treated them like chattel in a cruel, premeditated political stunt," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday.
WHITE HOUSE ACCUSES REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS OF TREATING MIGRANTS LIKE ‘CHATTEL'
DeSantis brushed off the criticism.
"We take what's happening at the southern border very seriously, unlike some," DeSantis said in a Thursday speech, "and unlike the president of the United States, who has refused to lift a finger to secure that border."
DeSantis noted that the numbers being sent to sanctuary cities and jurisdictions was just a fraction of those being encountered at the border.
"The minute even a small fraction of what those border towns deal with every day is brought to their front door, they go berserk, and they're so upset that this is happening. And it just shows you that their virtue-signaling is a fraud," he said.
MEDIA ATTACK RON DESANTIS’ ‘CRUEL’ AND ‘XENOPHOBIC’ MIGRANT FLIGHTS, CALL FOR INVESTIGATION
DeSantis' move echoes previous initiatives that started in April when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants to Washington, D.C. Since then, his state has sent migrants to New York City and Chicago. Arizona has also bused migrants to D.C. Over 10,000 migrants have now been sent to those cities — all of which describe themselves as "sanctuary cities."
The busing has caused havoc in the liberal cities. Washington, D.C., declared a public emergency, while all three have appealed for federal assistance. NYC Mayor Eric Adams recently said that the Big Apple’s social services were at "breaking point" over the migrant flow.
Despite a wave of anger from Democrats over the issue, Abbott, too, has not stood down. This week, migrant buses were sent near Vice President Kamala Harris’ D.C. residence after she said the border was "secure."
"The Biden-Harris administration continues ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years," Abbott said in a statement. "Our supposed border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, has yet to even visit the border to see firsthand the impact of the open-border policies she has helped implement, even going so far as to claim the border is ‘secure.’"
Harris accused Republican governors of a "dereliction of duty" in a Vice News interview.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff called the arrivals "shameful" and a "political stunt."
50 MIGRANTS ARRIVE AT VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS' RESIDENCE, 6 MORE BUSES TO NYC
Abbott’s migrant busing is itself an expansion of a unique project Texas launched last year called Operation Lone Star, which surged law enforcement to the border in order to deal with the migrant crisis that has since seen more than two million migrant encounters this fiscal year alone. According to statistics released by Abbott’s office, it has resulted in over 304,000 migrant arrests and nearly 20,000 criminal arrests.
Meanwhile, the state has launched its own effort to build a wall along its southern border, after the Trump-era project was halted by the Biden administration.
Arizona has taken a similar wall-related effort, with Gov. Doug Ducey’s administration last month building a makeshift wall near Yuma, Arizona, with welded shipping containers. The construction consists of 130 double-stacked shipping containers, welded shut and topped with four feet of razor wire. His office said that it is 22 feet tall, and each container weighs nearly 9,000 lbs.
"For the last two years, Arizona has made every attempt to work with Washington to address the crisis on our border. Time and time again, we’ve stepped in to clean up their mess. Arizonans can’t wait any longer for the federal government to deliver on their delayed promises," he said.
However, with the crisis continuing with no end in sight, others are calling for more. Officials and law enforcement in both Texas and Arizona have called on the governors to declare an "invasion" at the southern border so they can use powers to expel migrants. So far, no governor has done so, although Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has promised to make such a move if elected.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In the meantime, there are no signs of the governors backing away from their confrontational stances. DeSantis said on Friday that the migrant flights are "just the beginning efforts."
"We've got an infrastructure in place now," he said. "There's going to be a lot more that's happening."
Fox News' Paul Conner, Timothy Nerozzi and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.
You know what they say: In South Florida, the wigs are bigger, the heels are higher and the lip syncs are tighter.
Former White House adviser Jared Kushner called the move by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to send migrants from the southern border to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., in protest of Biden’s immigration policies “very troubling” even as he advocated for former President Trump’s stringent immigration platform. “I personally watch what’s happening, and it’s very hard…
"For our part," the panel wrote, "we cannot discern why Plaintiff would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one-hundred documents with classification markings."
"Did I do everything I could to persuade people? Of course, of course," Breyer said during an interview with CNN's Chris Wallace.
Conservatives on social media are slamming President Biden's recent anti-MAGA speech in response to news of a teenager being killed in North Dakota in a political dispute.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich insulted a Capitol Hill reporter after the journalist asked him to comment on the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. “What do you think about the January 6 committee,” Scott Wong, a reporter for NBC News who previously worked at The Hill, asked…
Mick Mulvaney is no Donald Trump fan; but the former budget director still thinks the AG's lawsuit against Trump's family and company doesn't add up.
Record-high number of illegal crossings, an overwhelmed asylum system and the dangers of smuggling are the consequences. [Opinion]
Raymond Dearie tells the legal team to detail what Trump claims was "planted" at his Florida resort, even though the ex-president watched the search on video.
Online posts claim the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, is a designated "sanctuary" for undocumented migrants, and that a group flown there by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has since been "deported." This is inaccurate; none of the towns on the resort island are sanctuary cities, and the migrants have been relocated to the nearby Joint Base Cape Cod."Martha's Vineyard Declared itself as a sanctuary city Until the buses arrived," says a September 19, 2022 Facebook post. Screenshot of a
Judge Eric C. Tostrud referenced the 11th Circuit Court’s ruling against the former president in deciding to allow the DOJ to retain the MyPillow founder's phone
The former attorney general compared the executive positions held by three of Trump's middle-aged kids to how some parents buy their children cars.
This isn't the first time Judge Raymond Dearie — appointed at Trump's request — has asked Trump's lawyers to put their money where their mouth is.
Donald Trump's fixer-turned-critic doesn't think most of the "Peekaboo" theories are right. His theory? "Dementia."
Russia's Ministry of Defense announced that state-approved journalists won't be drafted Putin's latest enlistment, along with IT workers and bankers.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans had harsh words for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after she attacked their Commitment to America pledge.
A U.S. appeals court ruled that Donald Trump has not produced evidence supporting this claim
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyIn its ruling yesterday overturning Judge Aileen Cannon’s injunction—with regard to the approximately 100 documents bearing classified markings seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence—the 11th Circuit did not merely overrule Judge Cannon, it went out of its way to detail the many ways in which Judge Cannon had fundamentally misstated the law.In my more than 25 years of practice as a criminal and civil litigator (i
Arizona Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem revealed during Thursday's debate that he has been interviewed by both the Justice Department and Jan. 6 committee about his alleged involvement in the Capitol attack. This was the first time Finchem has publicly confirmed speaking on the matter with federal officials. The four-term, far-right Arizona lawmaker, who continues to espouse the "Big Lie" and is running to be the state's chief election officer, revealed the Jan. 6 interview and Justice Department involvement in a back-and-forth on the debate stage with his opponent, Democrat Adrian Fontes.
The New York attorney general’s fraud lawsuit that was filed on Wednesday against former President Donald Trump seeks to recover $250 million from his company and essentially run him out of business in the state. Next month, Trump’s company will go on trial in Manhattan on criminal tax charges in a separate case that could cost millions of dollars in penalties and legal fees. And on the horizon are civil suits from people seeking to hold the former president responsible for injuries and trauma i