the cac mamba
Veteran
what's she have to do with this
Republican Gov. of Texas is shipping immigrants to NYC
- Thread starter OfTheCross
- Start date
the cac mamba
Veteran
as far as i can tell, it's a way for liberal governors and congressmen to smugly pander to hispanics, while pissing on our immigration laws
and i better not hear Adams bragging about it again. i get a feeling he won't be
are you really unable to be objective for 5 fukking minutes, and just accept that this is embarrassing
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Sir Richard Spirit
Superstar
#lowerlearning
We can criticize Abrams policies without resorting to hyperbole.
In fact there's an entire thread where folks do just that.
Abrams isn't a great policymaker and comes across as blatantly corrupt along with many other flaws.
But we don't have to pretend his policies are something they aren't. Or even worse pretend that Abbott, DeSantis, and Adams are all pushing the exact same policies because they all are pushing for federal action on immigration.
Adams using that Republican playbook left and right.
A journey continues: migrants reflect one year after being flown to Martha's Vineyard
A year ago, 49 migrants arrived unexpectedly on Martha’s Vineyard. 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.
www.capeandislands.org
A journey continues: migrants reflect one year after being flown to Martha's Vineyard
CAI | By Eve ZuckoffPublished September 14, 2023 at 5:00 AM EDT
LISTEN • 4:43
Raquel C. Zaldívar
New England News Collaborative
Carlos Luzardo sits on the front steps of his home in the Boston suburbs, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. Luzardo is one of the 49 migrants that were flown to Martha’s Vineyard in 2022.
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.
Raquel C. Zaldívar/
New England News Collaborative
Luzardo recently bought a clippers and scissors to cut hair. He is currently working in a salon, but hopes to be a barber with his own clients soon.
Luzardo takes home about $600 a month. It’s all under the table while he awaits legal work authorization. But he’s been able to buy a pair of clippers and good scissors, while helping to support his mother and girlfriend back in South America.
“[I’ve] sent a little to my family,” he said, “not [as much as] I want to, but I have helped them.”
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.
Arriving on Martha's Vineyard
When the migrants disembarked the two planes that brought them to Martha’s Vineyard, Luzardo said, they were almost immediately left alone to wander.
But islanders, after gathering enough information to realize these people needed help, quickly jumped in.
Leaders from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Edgartown offered two buildings as shelters. One housed men, the other women and children. High school students studying AP Spanish started translating. Beds, food, and toys were made available, then even more: access to a dentist, to lawyers, to soccer balls.
Amidst the frenzy of media coverage that sprang up around them, many of the migrants started sharing their stories with volunteers and reporters. They said they’d been told they were going to Boston or New York, among other places, that were set up to receive them. When they realized this wasn’t true, they said they felt lied to, duped, used.
“From the beginning I knew this was something sponsored by the government, but it was something that was not right,” Luzardo said. “But I didn’t react against it because I saw how well we were being treated and cared for.”
Many migrants were still processing these feelings when they voluntarily left the island and were transported to dorms at Joint Base Cape Cod, where Massachusetts officials concluded there would be more infrastructure in place to accommodate them.
Raquel C. Zaldívar
New England News Collaborative
Carlos Luzardo holds a keepsake rock from Martha’s Vineyard in his home in a Boston suburb one year after he arrived on the island.
Almost immediately, critics accused Republicans involved in the flights of violating human trafficking laws. Law enforcement officials in Texas, Massachusetts, and elsewhere took notice.
Legal Situation for Migrants
“There are at least three investigations going on into [the migrants’] plight,” said Muzaffar Chishti of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
He said millions of Venezuelans fleeing their homes have filed asylum claims in the U.S. But in a twisted kind of irony, the migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard are not only able to apply for asylum, but also a special kind of visa, called a U Visa, that could secure their spot as permanent residents.
U Visas are reserved for victims of certain crimes who help law enforcement in their investigations.
“The sheriff of Texas has this investigation about whether these people were criminally abducted to the United States,” Chishti said. “That’s enough predicate for a U Visa.”
Luzardo’s lawyer, Stephanie Marzouk, said she is pursuing that approach for him.
“[The migrants] believed that they were going to one place, and in fact, they were sent to a totally different place for a political stunt,” Marzouk said. “So that's a crime that these people had committed against them. And there are visas for people who are victims of certain crimes in the U.S. and who aid in the prosecution of those crimes.”
As Marzouk and Chishti said, a significant benefit for Luzardo is that it doesn’t matter whether the investigations result in any convictions. Their mere fact is enough for him to receive a U Visa.
Ultimately, the pair agreed, the men, women, and children flown to Martha’s Vineyard have stronger cases than most migrants now in the United States.
Also of note, Chishti said, the Martha’s Vineyard migrants get to file their claims not in Texas where they crossed the border, and where there are large numbers of applicants, but in Massachusetts.
“[It’s] a reasonably immigrant-friendly jurisdiction where there's a lot of lawyer support and a lot of political support,” Chishti said.
Luzardo's Long Journey
Luzardo said he left Colombia for the United States on July 16, 2022, embarking on a harrowing journey full of violence and chaos that left him with virtually nothing.
“I carried what I had mostly in my mind. And I was determined to make it out,” he said.
On the first part of the journey, Luzardo said, he passed through the Darién Gap, a dangerous rainforest that straddles Colombia and Panama. He badly injured his knee, but continued on.
Over the next few months, he said, he traveled through eight countries. He was robbed and lied to. He narrowly avoided poisonous spiders, kidnapping, and death, on multiple occasions. He said he watched women get attacked and a man stabbed to death.
Raquel C. Zaldívar
New England News Collaborative
Carlos Luzardo stands in the doorway of his apartment on Sept. 12, 2023. Luzardo was one of 49 migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard a year ago.
Finally he crossed the U.S. border into Texas penniless, with three items: his cell phone, its charger, and the wallet that held his identification card.Shortly after, he found himself at a shelter in San Antonio, where another migrant approached him with high hopes.
“I befriended this guy who said, ‘You know, there's this woman who I heard helps people find a shelter state.’”
Luzardo said the woman, named Perla, offered him pizza and a few nights at a hotel before giving him a paper to sign. (The woman has since been identified as Perla Huerta, a former U.S. Army medic, who has been named in a federal class-action lawsuit filed in Massachusetts on behalf of the migrants that also seeks damages against DeSantis. The case is pending.)
“It was this sort of authorization that we had to sign where we had to basically affirm that we had accepted this arrangement.”
But Luzardo said he didn’t understand what it meant. The next day she told him to be ready to go to the airport.
Immigration advocates say it’s almost impossible to understand why a person would willingly board a plane with so little information, without understanding the desperation that person was feeling. Luzardo said he believed he had to accept help whenever it was offered because that was the only way he’d survived up until that point.
{continued}
Migrant Flights, Bus Rides Continue
Both DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have offered migrants free rides from border towns to New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and several other places far from the nation’s southern border since last year. All the destinations are led by Democratic politicians.
Until recently, the federal government was in charge of making all big-picture immigration decisions in this country, Chisti said. But now, things are different.
“It’s state versus state. It's not the federal government versus the state government. That’s a completely new chapter,” he said. “And historians of federalism will be looking at it for a very long time.”
Chisti also pointed out that the governors involved in shipping migrants away are announced or potential candidates for the presidency.
“To do this a year before a general election is not lost on anyone,” Chisti said. “I think, again, it is a subchapter, which we haven't seen before.”
Luzardo Looks Ahead
It will be a long time before Luzardo knows whether he gets the U Visa or asylum. He’s applied for both.
So he finds himself doing what he can to stay busy. He wakes up early to drink Colombian coffee then takes three buses to work, chatting with the Spanish-speaking bus driver. He brings breakfast for his coworkers, who like bread with ham and cheese.
“I always buy food for everyone,” he said.
Raquel C. Zaldívar
New England News Collaborative
Carlos Luzardo prepares coffee in his home in a Boston suburb.
In the evenings, Luzardo works on himself. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he goes to English class. On Thursdays, he has therapy.
Finally, after video games and calls to loved ones, he goes to sleep at about 9 p.m., tired from long days of acclimation.
All of this — including the apartment — has been made possible by funds and services arranged by Jewish Family Service of Metrowest, a nonprofit based in Framingham, Massachusetts. The organization got involved soon after the migrants arrived at Joint Base Cape Cod. It has provided the same benefits to four other migrants, including Luzardo’s roommate and three other people who live next door.
The staff, including Lucia Panichella, have gotten to know the group over the last year.
Raquel C. Zaldívar
New England News Collaborative
Carlos Luzardo strains the coffee grounds out of his freshly-prepared coffee in his home before sharing some coffee with a neighbor.
“I kind of made the mistake of thinking, ‘They've already had this time where people told them all that [they’d been promised] was not true,’” she said. “But I think that it still was really hard for them to grasp fully what had happened. What was true? What was not true? Could they believe what I was saying?”
Gradually, things have changed.
“Since I’ve been here,” Luzardo said, “I’ve been able to figure out many things, things I thought were impossible [to overcome]. These are not extraordinary [accomplishments], but, yes, I feel that I’ve moved forward a little bit.”
To be sure, not all of the 49 migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard have received as much support and attention as Luzardo. Many are still in Massachusetts, communicating through a group chat through WhatsApp.
Luzardo said he’s grateful for his small community, but he still has many complicated feelings.
Today, he’s clear about the fact that even though he’s received a great deal of help, it didn’t come from the people who promised it to him. Rather, he said, it’s in spite of them.
So when he looks around at his apartment and considers the relative stability he’s now enjoying, he thinks about everything he’s done in his life leading up to this point.
“When one does good deeds, they receive good deeds. I have that sense of faith: to do good and harvest good,” he said. “I think these are God’s ways. But I don’t know.”
He still struggles to trust people, and feels deeply lonely.
“I can’t believe that I am here, in the United States. I mean, I wake up [and I ask myself], ‘Am I really here?’” he said. “I don’t complain about my comforts, about the things here. But [I miss my] family.”
Marzouk, Luzardo’s lawyer, said she expects his work permit will be approved in the next few months. In the meantime, Luzardo plans to keep cutting hair for clients at his new kitchen table.
Migrant Flights, Bus Rides Continue
Both DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have offered migrants free rides from border towns to New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and several other places far from the nation’s southern border since last year. All the destinations are led by Democratic politicians.
Until recently, the federal government was in charge of making all big-picture immigration decisions in this country, Chisti said. But now, things are different.
“It’s state versus state. It's not the federal government versus the state government. That’s a completely new chapter,” he said. “And historians of federalism will be looking at it for a very long time.”
Chisti also pointed out that the governors involved in shipping migrants away are announced or potential candidates for the presidency.
“To do this a year before a general election is not lost on anyone,” Chisti said. “I think, again, it is a subchapter, which we haven't seen before.”
Luzardo Looks Ahead
It will be a long time before Luzardo knows whether he gets the U Visa or asylum. He’s applied for both.
So he finds himself doing what he can to stay busy. He wakes up early to drink Colombian coffee then takes three buses to work, chatting with the Spanish-speaking bus driver. He brings breakfast for his coworkers, who like bread with ham and cheese.
“I always buy food for everyone,” he said.
Raquel C. Zaldívar
New England News Collaborative
Carlos Luzardo prepares coffee in his home in a Boston suburb.
In the evenings, Luzardo works on himself. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he goes to English class. On Thursdays, he has therapy.
Finally, after video games and calls to loved ones, he goes to sleep at about 9 p.m., tired from long days of acclimation.
All of this — including the apartment — has been made possible by funds and services arranged by Jewish Family Service of Metrowest, a nonprofit based in Framingham, Massachusetts. The organization got involved soon after the migrants arrived at Joint Base Cape Cod. It has provided the same benefits to four other migrants, including Luzardo’s roommate and three other people who live next door.
The staff, including Lucia Panichella, have gotten to know the group over the last year.
Raquel C. Zaldívar
New England News Collaborative
Carlos Luzardo strains the coffee grounds out of his freshly-prepared coffee in his home before sharing some coffee with a neighbor.
“I kind of made the mistake of thinking, ‘They've already had this time where people told them all that [they’d been promised] was not true,’” she said. “But I think that it still was really hard for them to grasp fully what had happened. What was true? What was not true? Could they believe what I was saying?”
Gradually, things have changed.
“Since I’ve been here,” Luzardo said, “I’ve been able to figure out many things, things I thought were impossible [to overcome]. These are not extraordinary [accomplishments], but, yes, I feel that I’ve moved forward a little bit.”
To be sure, not all of the 49 migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard have received as much support and attention as Luzardo. Many are still in Massachusetts, communicating through a group chat through WhatsApp.
Luzardo said he’s grateful for his small community, but he still has many complicated feelings.
Today, he’s clear about the fact that even though he’s received a great deal of help, it didn’t come from the people who promised it to him. Rather, he said, it’s in spite of them.
So when he looks around at his apartment and considers the relative stability he’s now enjoying, he thinks about everything he’s done in his life leading up to this point.
“When one does good deeds, they receive good deeds. I have that sense of faith: to do good and harvest good,” he said. “I think these are God’s ways. But I don’t know.”
He still struggles to trust people, and feels deeply lonely.
“I can’t believe that I am here, in the United States. I mean, I wake up [and I ask myself], ‘Am I really here?’” he said. “I don’t complain about my comforts, about the things here. But [I miss my] family.”
Marzouk, Luzardo’s lawyer, said she expects his work permit will be approved in the next few months. In the meantime, Luzardo plans to keep cutting hair for clients at his new kitchen table.
Ozymandeas
Veteran
I dont watch Fox News but your reply is a joke. You might be the only Dem thats ever even entertained limitations and restrictions on migration. HL is full of open borders people. Thats why I loved what Abbott did. Democrats are being exposed for the NIMBY's that they are. NYC has a $5 billion surplus this year. They actually have the funds to deal with migrants and the local government is the party that supports these migrants doing whatever the fukk they want. Texas on the other hand has stated repeatedly that they can't and don't want to deal with these issues. You guys told them tough shyt. Said Abbott should be tried for human trafficking, crimes against humanity, etc. Now that its happening in a place that your party has full control, the migrants are suddenly an issue. Again, this isn't really directed at you because as i said earlier youre one of the only people that has actually entertained the premise that open borders might not be the best idea but the rest of this board needs a reality check.
Everyone is for open borders until they have to start paying for it and having people in their space
the cac mamba
Veteran
can we agree that they're an officially an embarrassment? an L, to be rescinded by the democrats, and never mentioned again?This. Dude trying to make sanctuary cities something they aren't.
no one could POSSIBLY claim Adams bragging about being a sanctimonious city, to grovelling for money after getting sonned by wheelchair greg, is any kind of win for the left
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ill
Superstar
Why does your article keep calling him a migrant when everything from your article indicates he's an illegal immigrant?
the cac mamba
Veteran
ill
Superstar
"migrant" is less offensive
I actually just ran across his post in the TLR thread on AOC immigration where he posted that using the term "illegal" immigrant is bad.
And this is exactly why we're in the situation that we're in now. People like him grossly downplaying realities. Skewing and changing the definition of words to fit their emotional narrative. He just needs to come to terms with the fact our immigration system was created with quotas for a very valid reason. We have the resources to take care of and assimilate LEGAL immigrants who follow the process. We do NOT have the resources, or will, for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. Thats the entire point of the quota system.
Its funny seeing the heel turn from posters from the start of Abbott sending migrants up north to now. Wild how things change when its in peoples own backyards and not sight unseen in Texas.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted in impeachment trial
Paxton was impeached for allegedly taking bribes, but ultimately members of his party chose not to vote for his conviction and removal from office.
www.nbcnews.com
richest country in the world, we absolutely do have the resources.
we don't have the political will to do much of anything right tho.
Words Matter: Illegal Immigrant, Undocumented Immigrant, or Unauthorized Immigrant?
The labels we use to refer to different classes of individuals are not merely neutral descriptors but often implicitly come with various associations or value judgments, which can, in turn, frame and influence political debates.
www.scu.edu
Words Matter: Illegal Immigrant, Undocumented Immigrant, or Unauthorized Immigrant?
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- Words Matter: Illegal Immigrant, Undocumented Immigrant, or Unauthorized Immigrant?
Jonathan Kwan
Jonathan Kwan (@migrationethics) is the Inclusive Excellence Postdoctoral Fellow in Immigration Ethics with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Views are his own.
What term should we use to describe the 11 million or so people who have entered or reside within the U.S. without official government authorization? “Illegal immigrants,” “undocumented immigrants,” “unauthorized immigrants,” or something else entirely? The labels we use to refer to different classes of individuals are not merely neutral descriptors but often implicitly come with various associations or value judgments, which can, in turn, frame and influence political debates.
Conservatives tend to favor the term “illegal immigrant” and argue that it is the most precise because, unlike other terms such as “undocumented immigrant,” it underscores the legal violation that took place. However, critics of the phrase “illegal immigrant,” such as the Drop the I-Word campaign contend that “illegal immigrant” is actually imprecise or, at the very least, misleading. “Illegal” blankets all cases with connotations of criminality but different cases are treated differently under the law. For instance, living in the U.S. without authorization, such as overstaying a visa but entering the country legally, is a civil but not a criminal offense. “Illegal” also carries with it a finality that obscures the fluidity of immigration status, which can be adjusted based on different individual circumstances.
In 2013, the Associated Press (AP) changed its stylebook to no longer sanction the use of “illegal immigrant” on the ground that “illegal” should only describe an action but not a person. This represented an important shift due to the many newspapers that follow the AP’s style recommendations. Activists and immigrant advocates, of course, have long proclaimed, “No person is illegal.” The AP saw this change as consistent with its general practice of rejecting labels (for instance, saying someone is “diagnosed with schizophrenia” rather than “schizophrenic”). Instead of “illegal immigrant,” the AP suggests “living in or entering a country illegally” or “without legal permission.” But “illegal immigration” is still accepted by the AP insofar as this phrase does not describe people as “illegal.”
More recently, in April 2021, the Biden administration instructed U.S. immigration enforcement agencies to replace the term "illegal alien" (which is used throughout U.S. immigration law) with "undocumented noncitizen."
Even more damning is the critique that the term “illegal immigrant” functions as a racist dog whistle that buoys the idea that America is or should be a white nation. U.S. immigration law, from the Chinese Exclusion Act to the national origins quota system, has historically played a role in constructing categories of racial difference that have served to exclude those not considered white or white enough from the U.S. polis. As José Mendoza put it, “the notion of illegality plays a large role in constructing, perpetuating, and solidifying whiteness … illegality, like race, has historically functioned as a signifier of nonwhiteness and thereby marks entire communities (e.g., Latino and Asian communities) as nonwhite.” The ways in which racist ideologies are bound up with U.S. immigration policies are unfortunately not just historical artifacts but continue to this day, as is evidenced by former President Trump’s comments referring to Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries as “shythole countries.”
If “illegal immigrant” is imprecise and racially problematic, what term should be used instead? Pro-immigrant liberals often prefer the term “undocumented immigrant.” The nonprofit Define American, in its criticism of phrases such as “illegal immigrant” and “illegal alien,” recommends “undocumented American.” But “undocumented immigrant” has its shortcomings too. For many conservatives, “undocumented immigrant” smacks of euphemism, which makes it seem as though the matter were simply a clerical or administrative error—as if some document was misplaced or not properly issued. And “undocumented immigrant” is itself imprecise since an individual may have many documents even if they did not enter the country legally or do not have federal authorization to continue residing in the country. New York City residents, for instance, can be issued an identification card regardless of their immigration status. And “undocumented American,” which presumably is meant to challenge the idea that only citizens are Americans, could also be problematically imposing a label on people that they do not necessarily endorse themselves—after all, not everyone identifies or wants to be seen as an American.
Perhaps better than “undocumented immigrant” is “unauthorized immigrant,” which makes it clear that the issue is not merely the lack of documentation (even if not having the right papers can indeed be a serious problem for many people in different situations) but the lack of government authorization to enter or reside in the country. Though “unauthorized” does not carry with it the negative connotations of criminality associated with “illegal,” “unauthorized” is not necessarily neutral or free from value judgments itself.
The word “authority,” for instance, is ambiguous between an entity who in fact has the power to make some determination and an entity who should have (i.e. is legitimately entitled to or has the right to) such power. When we say, “The DMV is the authority that decides who is issued a driver’s license,” we mean authority in the first descriptive sense. If we say, “Women should be the authorities on whether or not abortions are legal,” we mean authority in the second value-laden sense. Oftentimes we use “authority” in both senses. If we say, “Parents are the authorities when it comes to the well-being of their children,” we might mean both that parents do in fact have the power to decide the well-being of their children and that they should have this power. Sometimes it may not be clear what sense of “authority” is being used, or “authority” may be used in one sense but carry with it connotations of the other sense or be (mis) interpreted in that way.
The ambiguities and value-laden connotations of authority can consequently import into the term “unauthorized immigrant.” If there are unauthorized immigrants, then are there authorized immigrants as well? Does “unauthorized immigrant” imply that those immigrants should be unauthorized? What kind of authorization do they lack? Who decided they are unauthorized? Who has the right to decide this and why? Perhaps there should be no unauthorized immigrants at all! Or perhaps more deeply, there should not even be a distinction between immigrants who are authorized and immigrants who are unauthorized.
The broader lesson that I think should be drawn from this discussion is that the terms we use to refer to different groups of people are not merely neutral or impartial descriptions. Instead, the very words we use to understand our social and political world can not only influence political debates and opinions but may already carry with them implicit ethical judgments about how to structure and change our world. But this doesn’t mean that we should just give up on describing our world accurately or abandon critical investigation of the words we use as just overblown and overly sensitive “political correctness.” Rather it means that how we see our world goes hand in hand with what our values are. How we should describe different classes of immigrants will depend partly and more broadly on what we envision justice in immigration to be.
Originally published February, 2021. Updated January, 2022 to include terminology changes by the Biden Adminstration.
Feb 11, 2021
GnauzBookOfRhymes
Superstar
are you really unable to be objective for 5 fukking minutes, and just accept that this is embarrassing
Minutes?
Mfers can't do it for 5 seconds on this issue.
It's a full blown crisis here in Chicago and these ppl are so invested in their virtue signaling they're willing to toss their most loyal and vulnerable citizens under the bus.
the cac mamba
Veteran
human trafficking
oh, wait, i mean, uh,
human trafficking
oh, wait, i mean, uh,
are they detaining them and forcing them onto planes? are they lying to them about their destination and what awaits them?
why do you consistently offer up disingenuous takes on this issue?