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| photo credit: Ray Ewing / The Vineyard Gazette |
Republicans are using the immigration border crisis to their advantage for the upcoming election.
In recent months, Republican governors Doug Ducey of Arizona, Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Greg Abbott of Texas sent migrants, who are predominately from Central and South America, to key cities including Chicago, Washington D.C. and New York.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced in a statement that the city received over 11,000 asylum seekers since May.
Most recently, DeSantis sent 48 Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, who were later sent to a military base in Cape Cod.
Robert Y. Shapiro, a professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, ph.D, said that the governors' actions can be explained because much of the debates have been centered on matters such as abortion, same-sex marriage and social security and Medicare, issues that they don’t want voters to focus on in the upcoming election.
“Then of course, the biggest distraction hurting Republicans is the focus on Trump and his misdeeds,” he said.
Although the biggest weaknesses of the Biden administration are the immigration crisis and the economy, Shapiro said that Florida has had one of the highest and still has the highest death rates in COVID, so DeSantis may be using immigration as a distraction tactic should he run for president.
Florida currently has 56 deaths in a 7-day average, according to The New York Times.
Many predict that DeSantis will run for office in the 2024 presidential election, and Shapiro said that this political move also tests the Republican Party’s favor among Latino voters.
In the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, there was a 38% margin of victory for her among Latino voters, but in 2020, Trump narrowed the margin against President Joe Biden by 17%, according to Pew Research Center.
How do we resolve this humanitarian crisis?
With all the discussion about inflation and the labor shortage, Shapiro said that one solution is that it provides jobs to the immigrants who are “very anxious to settle in the United States and very anxious to work.”
These jobs are particularly in the service industry such as restaurants, tourism and entertainment.
“On the one hand, they are low-wage jobs, although on the other hand, in these cities, their minimum wages have now become quite respectable,” he said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced in a statement that the city received over 11,000 asylum seekers since May.
Most recently, DeSantis sent 48 Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, who were later sent to a military base in Cape Cod.
Robert Y. Shapiro, a professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, ph.D, said that the governors' actions can be explained because much of the debates have been centered on matters such as abortion, same-sex marriage and social security and Medicare, issues that they don’t want voters to focus on in the upcoming election.
“Then of course, the biggest distraction hurting Republicans is the focus on Trump and his misdeeds,” he said.
Although the biggest weaknesses of the Biden administration are the immigration crisis and the economy, Shapiro said that Florida has had one of the highest and still has the highest death rates in COVID, so DeSantis may be using immigration as a distraction tactic should he run for president.
Florida currently has 56 deaths in a 7-day average, according to The New York Times.
Many predict that DeSantis will run for office in the 2024 presidential election, and Shapiro said that this political move also tests the Republican Party’s favor among Latino voters.
In the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, there was a 38% margin of victory for her among Latino voters, but in 2020, Trump narrowed the margin against President Joe Biden by 17%, according to Pew Research Center.
How do we resolve this humanitarian crisis?
With all the discussion about inflation and the labor shortage, Shapiro said that one solution is that it provides jobs to the immigrants who are “very anxious to settle in the United States and very anxious to work.”
These jobs are particularly in the service industry such as restaurants, tourism and entertainment.
“On the one hand, they are low-wage jobs, although on the other hand, in these cities, their minimum wages have now become quite respectable,” he said.
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