So he invents one
In the midst of implementing its own controversial new program for dealing with the flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, the White House on Wednesday criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida for deploying the National Guard to handle the arrival of undocumented immigrants from Cuba.
“We are talking about people who are coming from countries, who are dealing with political strife,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Wednesday’s press briefing. “They’re trying to find asylum — and he’s treating them like pawns.”
She charged that DeSantis was “not dealing with the problem. He’s actually creating a problem.”
Last week, DeSantis deployed the National Guard to deal with what his office described as an “alarming influx of migrants landing in the Florida Keys,” though it was unclear just what the Guard’s role would be.
According to the governor’s office, 300 migrants fleeing Cuba and other countries landed at Dry Tortugas National Park last week, and another 45 made landfall at Key West.
DeSantis’s office did not answer a Yahoo News request for comment. But when he deployed the Guard, the governor lambasted the White House.
“As the negative impacts of Biden’s lawless immigration policies continue unabated, the burden of the Biden administration’s failure falls on local law enforcement who lack the resources to deal with the crisis,” he said.
The governor’s move came after President Biden announced a new “parole” plan that would allow up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti to receive asylum in the United States, provided they applied from their home countries via smartphone app, without making a perilous overland journey to the border. The plan also includes an agreement from Mexico to accept 30,000 deportees from those countries apprehended in the United States.
I assume that DeSantis has done polling that says the Cuban community wants him to use Cuban immigrants as pawns. That would be a big switch from the past when Cubans were given special dispensation because they were fleeing Communism which,last I heard, was still a big boogeyman on the right. Maybe the Florida Cubans have fully assimilated into the far right of the GOP and hate all immigrants now, I don’t know.
I sure hope the National Guard can handle all 300 immigrants who made their way to Florida looking for asylum. It’s quite a challenge, I’m sure.