To “own the libs,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have been busy bussing and flying migrants to blue states.
Most recently, Abbott sent busloads of migrants to Washington, D.C., while DeSantis sent two planes packed with migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, the wealthy liberal enclave in Massachusetts.
The migrants Abbott sent included many from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Likewise, most of those flown to Martha’s Vineyard are from Venezuela.
Victims of socialist tyranny, in other words, reduced to political pawns by Republicans who aren’t bright enough to embrace such people.
It wasn’t that long ago that Cubans benefited from the “wet foot, dry foot” policy which allowed Cuban migrants fleeing the Castro regime to stay in America.
It was a policy which allowed America to serve as a sanctuary for victims of socialism while benefiting from and maximizing the potential of Cubans in search of a better life. That policy was ended by President Barack Obama in 2017.
If anything, though, America should have an open borders policy for all people fleeing commie regimes — including Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
For decades, Cuban-Americans have politically benefited Republicans, especially in Florida.
Venezuelan-Americans have also been a politically competitive group, mindful of the horrors of the Maduro regime. They’re also a rapidly rising group. “From 2010 to 2019, the Venezuelan population in the U.S. increased 126% to 540,000, by far the fastest growth rate,” noted Pew Research Center.
Though a smaller group, the Miami Herald in 2020 reported that both the Biden and Trump campaigns specifically pushed to garner support from the Nicaraguan-American community in Florida. Nicaragua is currently being run into the ground by Daniel Ortega, who helped lead the socialist Sandinista revolution back in the 80s.
As someone who has traveled through Central and South America, I’ve encountered my share of both Nicaraguan and Venezuelan refugees in countries ranging from Costa Rica and Panama to Colombia and Peru.
Most didn’t really have a long-term idea of what they were going to do besides try to make a way to get by in their new home countries, but some indicated plans to try and get to the United States.
As I see it, there’s no reason for the United States not to have an easy, legal pathway for such people to come.
If we’re being purely practical, America needs the labor.
Birthrates are slipping; it’s kind of hard to maintain the ponzi scheme of Social Security when that’s happening.
America could also only benefit from people who have the sort of initiative to risk everything to come here. If they make it here, they’ve literally done more to deserve to be Americans than any native-born American.
These are people who understandably associate socialism with chaos and tyranny.
It’s in both America’s interests and even the GOP’s interest to counter the rising interest in socialism among America’s youth with people who actually know what socialism leads to.
In 2020, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation commissioned a survey whcih found that 49% of Gen Z’ers view “socialism” favorably. This is a bleak glimpse into the future of the country.
But now, dimwitted Republican governors Abbott and DeSantis are showing they don’t care about people fleeing the commies after all and are willing to use them as mere political props to be shipped around for media clips.
Hypocritically, just this year, DeSantis signed legislation establishing Nov. 7 as Victims of Communism Day.
“While it’s fashionable in some circles to whitewash the history of communism, Florida will stand for truth and remain as a beachhead for freedom,” DeSantis said at the time.
So much for that.
Of course, President Biden and the Democrats have been deplorable in their treatment of Venezuelan refugees as well.
In 2020, Biden felt perfectly comfortable condemning Trump for deporting Venezuelans, saying, “it’s abundantly clear he has no regard for the suffering of the Venezuelan people.” He was right about that. But Biden’s turned around and, as president, has done the same thing.
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Victims of communist ideology deserve better than what Abbott, Biden and DeSantis have to offer.
Rather than using them as political pawns, America needs to be a sanctuary for victims of socialist tyranny. And yes, I define that broadly as anyone fleeing socialist-run countries whether they’re being directly persecuted by the government or not.
It’s in the interests of humanity and the American economy in the long-run to allow such people to put their skills to use here in America for the benefit of themselves and the American people rather than squander their abilities in their country of origin.
Open the borders to all fleeing the commies. Don’t support the terminally vacuous Abbott, Biden, DeSantis or Trump. America deserves better. They don’t care about victims of communism.
Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com