Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ignited a firestorm of left-wing hysteria Wednesday when his state gave 50 migrants a free flight to the glitzy New England destination of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
“Residents of Martha’s Vineyard overwhelmingly support illegal immigration and call for more diversiry. Governor DeSantis was kind enough to grant their wishes,” tweeted the governor’s spokeswoman Christina Pushaw Thursday.
Proponents of unlimited immigration, however, were not amused.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes called the migrant flights “deeply deeply sick and dehumanizing” as if the 50 individuals were shipped to a concentration camp. CNN actually compared the flights to one of the nation’s most glamorous vacation spots to the Nazi Holocaust. The Washington Post’s Max Boot, who last month called Martha’s Vineyard “the real America,” condemned the move as “beneath contempt” for the Florida governor.
The majority-white, wealthy liberal enclave where median home sales are north of $1.3 million and where 150,000 tourists descend every summer should, however, be well-equipped to absorb 50 new migrants into its community. After all, rich white liberals have spent the better half of the last decade lecturing Americans to bring home “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” and welcome unchecked illegal migration.
DeSantis joins Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott who sent migrants to Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. to make clear every town is a border town as tens of thousands of migrants have overwhelmed communities along the Rio Grande for years. While many of the more than half a million “gotaways” who escape detention at the border often end up in places such as Chicago and New York anyway, they don’t usually find themselves on the gold-plated doorsteps of left-wing communities shocked to find new neighbors. DeSantis merely expedited the migrants’ travel and, in the process, began to force liberals who otherwise ignore the crisis at the border to reckon with what communities are faced with across the country, particularly in Texas.
Below are 10 other destinations Abbott and DeSantis might consider for the next round of free transit. Maybe once the border crisis ends up on the front doors of the Democrats’ donors, the Biden administration will acknowledge the problem.
1. Beverly Hills
Weezer’s 2005 ad for Beverly Hills makes the California hot spot out to be a dream destination for the empty-handed.
The best part is, if migrants want to commit crimes as many have in Texas, they can! Last month, local election officials refused to place a recall on the ballot for L.A.’s soft-on-crime top prosecutor, claiming nearly 200,000 petition signatures were invalid. District Attorney George Gascon will serve through 2024.
2. Mark Zuckerberg’s House
Migrants who don’t fall in love with Beverly Hills can move up the coast to Palo Alto and camp out in front of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s house. Homeless tent cities in California are proof of love and compassion, after all.
3. Gavin Newsom’s Governor’s Mansion
While campaigning against his own recall last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom complained his opponents were really just upset by the “browning of California,” despite the referendum petitions making no mention of race.
Newsom, then, might welcome his street looking more similar to the downtown city centers of Los Angeles and San Francisco complete with homeless encampments.
4. Chicago’s Hyde Park
On Wednesday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared a disaster over just more than 500 migrants arriving in the city by bus courtesy of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. In contrast, Texas residents welcome about 140 times that number of immigrants on a daily basis. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot joined Pritzker to plead for federal assistance.
Since Abbott is already sending migrants to Chicago, why not put them on the doorsteps of the city’s wealthy liberal donors, applying pressure to national Democrats?
5. The Hamptons
Median property sales in the East Hamptons jumped to more than $3.1 million in the first quarter of this year where the median income is more than 246 percent higher than the national median. In other words, the East Hamptons are a prime location to send another few dozen migrants seeking access to resources stretched too thin on the southern border while grabbing attention from the area’s Democratic donor class.
6. AOC’s New York District Office
District congressional offices take the lead on constituent services where residents can get help navigating the federal bureaucracy. Abbott should inform migrants they can sign up for benefits inside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s offices in the Bronx or Jackson Heights as new constituents.
7. Nantucket
Nantucket Island is a vacation spot similar to Martha’s Vineyard that’s just a 38-mile ferry ride from where Gov. DeSantis dropped off 50 migrants. The island is also where President Joe Biden spends his Thanksgiving.
8. Biden’s Delaware Beach House
Gov. Abbott has already sent busloads of migrants to the nation’s capital this summer. President Biden, however, spent more than 150 days at his Delaware beach house since his inauguration, escaping the sight of migrants in Washington D.C. Abbott should fix that, and grab the president’s attention by sending busses to Delaware.
9. Georgetown
Washington D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood is home to some of the most connected longtime power players in national politics. It’s also home to major Democrat donors living in an isolated bubble within the capital, not only disconnected from the district’s homelessness problem but also more than 1,700 miles away from the southern border. It’s time Abbott and DeSantis bring the border to them.
10. Chris Hayes’s House
In Hayes’s own words, it would be “deeply sick and dehumanizing” to turn away 50 migrants who showed up on his doorstep. It would also be a prime example of “genuine hypocrisy from educated, affluent liberals who live in large metro areas” to be unwilling to live alongside immigrants.
