I woke early Thursday at my house in West Tisbury, one in all six small cities on the island of Martha’s Winery, to seek out deer munching my shrubs, an early fall chill within the air and the disturbing information that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had flown about 50 migrants, principally from Venezuela, to Edgartown, Mass.
Native officers have been notified solely 20 minutes earlier than the migrants arrived. The migrants say they have been advised, falsely, they have been headed to housing and jobs in New York or Boston.
Many have been confused, in keeping with Edgartown Police Chief Bruce McNamee. “We’ve talked to quite a lot of individuals who’ve requested, ‘The place am I?’ After which I used to be making an attempt to clarify the place Martha’s Winery is.”
It was merciless, after all. It was deeply cynical. However the disgraceful stunt made for hanging political theater. DeSantis is typically described as Donald Trump with a mind, which, relying in your viewpoint, is both reassuring or very scary. DeSantis faces reelection this November and is contemplating his personal White Home bid. His surgical strike right into a distant liberal enclave confirmed he’s critical as a coronary heart assault, as they are saying in Florida, about competing for Trump’s voters.
As he undoubtedly needed, DeSantis ginned up limitless headlines and liberal outrage, catnip for his marketing campaign. He advised reporters in Talahassee on Thursday that his purpose was to share the burden of unlawful immigration with Democratic states. “It shouldn’t all fall on a handful of purple states,” he stated.
Nonetheless, his efficiency clearly fell flat right here. Utilizing Florida taxpayers’ cash, he chartered two planes to fly a couple of dozen folks, together with not less than 10 kids, 1000’s of miles, on flights originating in San Antonio to a rural Massachusetts island that sees its inhabitants ebb and circulation by tens of 1000’s each summer season. A vacationer bus or two extra received’t make a lot distinction right here.
In latest months, DeSantis — who attended Yale and Harvard Regulation — has publicly mocked the Winery as an emblem of Democratic elitism. He apparently prefers the close by smaller island of Nantucket, which even Vineyarders think about elitist. On Aug. 9, in keeping with the Boston Globe, the Florida governor was scheduled to be the featured speaker at a $5,000-a-couple fundraiser sponsored by hedge fund homeowners on Nantucket.
If DeSantis hoped to spur anti-immigrant sentiment on the Winery, he failed. The island has welcomed immigrants for years. Greater than 12% of the 17,000 full-time residents are international born, in keeping with the 2020 census. And for all of the breathless reporting that calls the Winery a playground of rich white of us, it’s an more and more numerous neighborhood. Greater than 22% of residents are nonwhite.
In any case, islanders greater than met the DeSantis problem. St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Edgartown shortly rounded up 50 cots and mattresses and housed the migrants. An emergency room physician got here down from Boston, whereas attorneys supplied professional bono companies. 5 eating places donated much more meals than the group may probably eat. Highschool college students finding out Spanish got here to translate. The Islanders Discuss web page on Fb exploded with gives to assist, and donations poured right into a Neighborhood Providers fund. So many volunteers rushed the church with toys, garments, bedding and different provides that the police lastly pleaded for a cease to maintain site visitors flowing.
“We actually have every thing we’d like,” Lisa Belcastro, the island’s homeless shelter coordinator, advised reporters Thursday.
DeSantis isn’t alone after all. Republican Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona have bused about 10,000 migrants to Washington, D.C., since April, overwhelming companies so badly that final week District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency. On Thursday, two buses from Texas dropped 101 Columbians and Venezuelans close to Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence.
“The truth that Fox Information and never the Division of Homeland Safety, town or native NGOs have been alerted a couple of plan to go away migrants, together with kids, on the facet of a busy D.C. road makes clear that that is only a merciless, premeditated political stunt,” White Home Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated.
The DeSantis migrants are caught on the Winery for now. There are worse locations. The summer season crowds are principally gone, the skies are cerulean and the leaves are beginning to drop. However inexpensive housing is tight and the winter financial system doesn’t have many roles. Many of the newcomers presumably will face immigration hearings, and there may be speak from Boston of short-term housing on a army base on Cape Cod till the circumstances are sorted out. In some unspecified time in the future, maybe they will stake their claims on the American dream.
They could but thank DeSantis for the free journey away from intolerance.
Bob Drogin is a former reporter and editor for the Los Angeles Instances in New York, Manila, Johannesburg and Washington.
