It's been bothering me all day, especially since seeing footage of the men, women and children.
Like the thousands and thousands of people from oppressive countries like those in Central America or Venezuela, asylum seekers pour into our country, across porous borders, every day. Often, they've traveled for months to reach one of our border states, many times risking their lives for the chance to find better lives and raise their children in peace.
Thanks to the inaction and division of our Congress, our immigration system is broken. It's been broken for years and there is no indication that anything will change anytime soon. It's a political football that keeps being tossed from one side to another with no resolution acceptable to either.
But the people aren't footballs. They're mothers, fathers, children, young men and women looking for opportunity to live without fear.
Our government has almost always resettled groups of migrants in cities around the country. It's done to relieve the pressure on the border states and the people are either awaiting their asylum hearings or they've already been approved to be here.
So what's wrong with Governors Abbott and DeSantis doing the same thing? Why are so many people outraged over the current flights of asylum seekers from Texas to Florida to places like Martha's Vineyard, New York City, Washington, D.C. any different?
Ask the men and women on those planes. Listen to what they were told...promised, in many cases.
They believed were expected in these places, that there were plans in place for them. In the case of the Vineyard group, they'd been told they were going to Boston where they'd have jobs and places to stay. Imagine deplaning on an island, walking three miles to a town and realizing you didn't know where you were. Imagine.
Imagine being bused into Washington, D.C., being dropped off in front of the Naval Observatory, the home of the vice president, and left there! Imagine.
These are human beings. They are people. They are not political pawns, shuffled around to make a political point. They are carrying little children. They have meager possessions in duffel bags. Just the thought of their fear makes me so angry I can't find adequate words.
There is a way to fix our border crisis. Problem is, neither side has ever been successful at it. So, is the answer to grandstand and parade unwitting families to the indignity of being treated like cattle? No, the answer is to do something rarely seen in our government: work together to solve a national problem. The details, the methods, need to be worked out in a bipartisan fashion. I believe our political leaders know how to do what needs to be done; they just lack the will to do it.
As for Abbott and DeSantis. I hope there's a special place in hell for them. Or better yet, may they spend eternity on the other side of the U.S. border, trying to get home, to safety and the absence of fear.
