Florida's DeSantis evil political stunt by relocating innocent Venezuelan migrants has backfired!
The migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard, most originally from Venezuela, say they were tricked into boarding planes in Texas under a false promise of expedited work papers and housing. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has since taken credit for what he’s called a “voluntary” relocation. Many of the migrants, Luzardo among them, have painted a very different picture.
This is the America I love: Humanity wins! An echo opinion letter published in the Las Vegas Sun by Fabiola Santiago:
They invited every single one of the migrants, now scattered around the country and starting lives anew, to return to St. Andrew’s Church for a joyful first-year reunion.
It was a gesture, motivated by the desire to do more good, to make them again feel welcome against the backdrop of a national epidemic of anti-immigrant hate. Not all could come, but the 36 who did step away from jobs and obligations showed joy and gratitude to their hosts and benefactors.
How beautiful is that?
A year ago, 49 migrants arrived unexpectedly on Martha’s Vineyard, a wealthy island community off the Massachusetts coast. Immigration advocates called it a cruel political stunt, but it has surprisingly created a legal advantage that some of the migrants might be able to use to remain in the United States.
Among them was Carlos Luzardo, who worked seven years as a barber after moving to Colombia from his native Venezuela. After living through a political crisis and then economic upheaval, he sold his business and decided to migrate to the U.S.
“It was a difficult decision,” he said earlier this month, speaking through an interpreter.
In the last year, the stocky, gregarious 25-year-old has been slowly building a new client base in the kitchen of his apartment in a Boston suburb. To earn more money, he works in a salon washing hair, waxing eyebrows, and simply talking with people. “I spend an hour with them, fixing them up. And just like that, they find me endearing. I’m not sure why,” he added with a smile. The generous Vineyard community raised money to host the asylum seekers, with cases still pending, inviting them to bring guests, and they paid their way, their stay and activities, including group gatherings and trips to the beach.
The black-and-white pictures and story in The Vineyard Gazette show quite an emotional bash.
The refugees’ smiles, hugs and thumbs-up are an antidote to the anti-immigrant rhetoric poisoning Americans: The spirit of Lady Liberty redeemed. The humane character Americans were known for.
The Vineyard volunteers didn’t have to do any of this. They had already made a huge difference in these people’s lives when they initially arrived.
DeSantis pulled this publicity stunt to position himself as the most
immigrant-loathing of them all in the GOP race for the White House — putting at risk immigration hearings and location check-ins. They could have missed appointments and court dates and ended up in legal trouble from where there’s no coming back.
But the Vineyard souls — plus, the national outrage generated by Democrats over DeSantis’ cruelty — facilitated immigration lawyers, and another story began to be written. Charity toward fellow humans replaced Republicans’ vilification of people fleeing circumstances so dire most Americans cannot imagine them.
What DeSantis, bragging father of three, did — leaving confused kids and their parents without food or shelter on a street corner for political thrills — was inhumane. He, it’s to be hoped, never becomes president, as he has shown how low he’s willing to stoop for personal ambition.
The Vineyard residents’ generosity of spirit leaves the governor with a fresh dose of egg on his face — a bonus to the happy news of the reunion.
They kept their plans private, allowing only one local reporter and a photographer to chronicle the moments of friendship, joy and fraternity. And, as the hosts requested, the Gazette agreed to hold off publishing the story until after the immigrants had a chance to return home.
“We wanted this to be a sacred time,” organizer Lisa Belcastro told the Gazette.
Belcastro, a homeless shelter coordinator, whom the right-wing media took out of context to show liberals don’t want immigrants either, is exceptional.
A year ago, she cried when she told the media gathered around her about the “trauma” the migrants had endured. “Some of them have gone through really horrific things,” she said, breaking down for a moment, then picking up their defense.
“It’s step by step, folks,” she said.
And here she is, offering another step up — and still protecting them.
I only found out about the celebration because a watchful reader, Helena Poleo, sent me the link to the story.
“This is what happens when a community comes together,” Caracas-born Poleo wrote to me. She’s a Miami political consultant and media professional, a former journalist and an immigrant-rights advocate.
Her words took me back to pre-Trump times when America was the kind of country that, indeed, came together for immigrants.
Martha’s Vineyard reminds us: It is inconceivable that too many Americans fail to condemn DeSantis for his cruelty to the Venezuelan migrants he used and abused.
All of us should be throwing the Venezuelan refugees a party.
Fabiola Santiago is a columnist for the Miami Herald.
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| Venezuelan flag and migrants |
This is the admirable America I know exists — the humane one many of us love with all our hearts.
A year after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plucked two groups of migrants from Texas and — using Florida taxpayers’ money — flew them to Martha’s Vineyard, under false pretenses, his evil scheme to dump them on liberals without any aid has been, once again, met with extraordinary kindness.
Score another win for the forces of good, which would not leave penniless women, two children and young men lost and bewildered.
The volunteers on the island who fed, sheltered and helped resettle the 49 migrants — most of them Venezuelan — brought them back to Martha’s Vineyard last weekend, this time, to celebrate.
A year after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plucked two groups of migrants from Texas and — using Florida taxpayers’ money — flew them to Martha’s Vineyard, under false pretenses, his evil scheme to dump them on liberals without any aid has been, once again, met with extraordinary kindness.
Score another win for the forces of good, which would not leave penniless women, two children and young men lost and bewildered.
The volunteers on the island who fed, sheltered and helped resettle the 49 migrants — most of them Venezuelan — brought them back to Martha’s Vineyard last weekend, this time, to celebrate.
 |
| Venezuelan migrants |
They invited every single one of the migrants, now scattered around the country and starting lives anew, to return to St. Andrew’s Church for a joyful first-year reunion.
It was a gesture, motivated by the desire to do more good, to make them again feel welcome against the backdrop of a national epidemic of anti-immigrant hate. Not all could come, but the 36 who did step away from jobs and obligations showed joy and gratitude to their hosts and benefactors.
How beautiful is that?
Among them was Carlos Luzardo, who worked seven years as a barber after moving to Colombia from his native Venezuela. After living through a political crisis and then economic upheaval, he sold his business and decided to migrate to the U.S.
“It was a difficult decision,” he said earlier this month, speaking through an interpreter.
In the last year, the stocky, gregarious 25-year-old has been slowly building a new client base in the kitchen of his apartment in a Boston suburb. To earn more money, he works in a salon washing hair, waxing eyebrows, and simply talking with people. “I spend an hour with them, fixing them up. And just like that, they find me endearing. I’m not sure why,” he added with a smile. The generous Vineyard community raised money to host the asylum seekers, with cases still pending, inviting them to bring guests, and they paid their way, their stay and activities, including group gatherings and trips to the beach.
The black-and-white pictures and story in The Vineyard Gazette show quite an emotional bash.
The refugees’ smiles, hugs and thumbs-up are an antidote to the anti-immigrant rhetoric poisoning Americans: The spirit of Lady Liberty redeemed. The humane character Americans were known for.
The Vineyard volunteers didn’t have to do any of this. They had already made a huge difference in these people’s lives when they initially arrived.
DeSantis pulled this publicity stunt to position himself as the most
immigrant-loathing of them all in the GOP race for the White House — putting at risk immigration hearings and location check-ins. They could have missed appointments and court dates and ended up in legal trouble from where there’s no coming back.
But the Vineyard souls — plus, the national outrage generated by Democrats over DeSantis’ cruelty — facilitated immigration lawyers, and another story began to be written. Charity toward fellow humans replaced Republicans’ vilification of people fleeing circumstances so dire most Americans cannot imagine them.
What DeSantis, bragging father of three, did — leaving confused kids and their parents without food or shelter on a street corner for political thrills — was inhumane. He, it’s to be hoped, never becomes president, as he has shown how low he’s willing to stoop for personal ambition.
The Vineyard residents’ generosity of spirit leaves the governor with a fresh dose of egg on his face — a bonus to the happy news of the reunion.
They kept their plans private, allowing only one local reporter and a photographer to chronicle the moments of friendship, joy and fraternity. And, as the hosts requested, the Gazette agreed to hold off publishing the story until after the immigrants had a chance to return home.
“We wanted this to be a sacred time,” organizer Lisa Belcastro told the Gazette.
Belcastro, a homeless shelter coordinator, whom the right-wing media took out of context to show liberals don’t want immigrants either, is exceptional.
A year ago, she cried when she told the media gathered around her about the “trauma” the migrants had endured. “Some of them have gone through really horrific things,” she said, breaking down for a moment, then picking up their defense.
“It’s step by step, folks,” she said.
And here she is, offering another step up — and still protecting them.
I only found out about the celebration because a watchful reader, Helena Poleo, sent me the link to the story.
“This is what happens when a community comes together,” Caracas-born Poleo wrote to me. She’s a Miami political consultant and media professional, a former journalist and an immigrant-rights advocate.
Her words took me back to pre-Trump times when America was the kind of country that, indeed, came together for immigrants.
Martha’s Vineyard reminds us: It is inconceivable that too many Americans fail to condemn DeSantis for his cruelty to the Venezuelan migrants he used and abused.
Fabiola Santiago is a columnist for the Miami Herald.
Labels: Fabiola Santiago, Lady Liberty, Martha's Vineyard, Nevada Sun, The Vineyard Gazette
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 5:23 AM
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