Florida Sends Illegal Immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has sent illegal immigrants from Florida all the way up to Martha’s Vineyard, a popular resort island in Massachusetts.

The island is frequented by the country’s cultural and political elite, and even counts former President Barack Obama as a summertime resident.

According to a CNN report on the situation, 50 illegal immigrants were sent to the island from Florida.

“An estimated 50 migrants arrived on Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday on two planes, according to Massachusetts state Sen. Julian Cyr, a Democrat who represents Martha’s Vineyard. The two planes arrived just after 3 p.m. ET, Cyr said, and white vans took the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard Community Services.”

As things currently stand, NPR reports that the illegal immigrants have been moved off-island to a military base in Cape Cod.

This isn’t the first time a governor has done something like this. Back in April, we blogged about Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to send illegal aliens to major cities like New York and Washington, D.C. Just this week, Governor Abbott sent two buses worth of illegal immigrants to D.C. and dropped them off right in front of the home of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Governor DeSantis has previously told Fox News that he’s fed up with illegal aliens being shipped to Florida. He’s also threatened to send them to President Biden’s home state of Delaware. Here’s his comments from back in April according to Fox:

“It is not the responsibility of Floridians to subsidize aliens to reside in our state unlawfully; we did not consent to Biden’s open-borders agenda.”

This is obviously a publicity stunt, but it highlights the unfair situation that states most affected by the border crisis must contend with. Meanwhile, the country’s elite are often insulated from the effects of the border crisis as they generally live in states that aren’t close to the border.

While it’s important to highlight hypocrisy, at the end of the day these illegal aliens are still residing in the country. It’s immaterial to those who illegally cross the border whether they are held in Texas or Massachusetts. 

If they’re not being deported, then there’s no disincentive for them to stop coming here. As it stands, according to a recent report from the Washington Times, only 29% of illegal aliens show up for their check-ins after they’re released. Sending illegal aliens all around the country isn’t going to help with this issue either.

Moving the problem around isn’t the same thing as solving it. What’s needed is more money and resources dedicated to border enforcement. Until that happens the border crisis will only continue to get worse.