Migrants Sent Unannounced to Martha’s Vineyard
Migrants Arrive at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Martha’s Vineyard
This week there is yet another horrific example of using precious people as political pawns. The governor of Florida with the cooperation of the governor of Texas used funds allocated by the Florida state legislature to hire two private planes to take around 50 migrants from the southern border to Martha’s Vineyard. According to news reports, many of the migrants did not know where they were going and were lured onto the planes under false pretenses. Massachusetts state senator Dylan Fernandes described the situation this way:
“We have the governor of Florida … hatching a secret plot to send immigrant families like cattle on an airplane,” said state Sen. Dylan Fernandes, who represents Martha’s Vineyard. “Ship them women and children to a place they weren’t told where they were going and never alerted local officials and people on the ground here that they were coming. It is an incredibly inhumane and depraved thing to do.”
In the face of this dehumanizing stunt, the people of Martha’s Vineyard responded swiftly and compassionately. Churches opened their doors to provide shelter and multiple forms of emergency assistance were organized around the island. In contrast to this generous outpouring of resources, the state legislature of Florida actually allocated 12 million dollars to fund the ongoing political stunt of sending migrants from the southern border to cities and states which they falsely claim support “open borders.” While there are differences within and between political parties about immigration policies, no party is advocating for open borders without limitations. It is also clear that the people being used as political pawns are overwhelmingly not white. This racism is blatant and shameful. It is hard to believe that such dehumanizing behavior would ever be tolerated or supported if the migrants were white. It is past time for those who call ourselves Christians or followers of Jesus to call out and resist the use of precious people made in the image of God as political pawns. The two videos posted below come from recent national and local televised reports: