Illegal immigrants fall victim to US partisanship (global hotspot)

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

Recently, the crisis of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border has intensified, and there have been repeated tragedies of migrant injuries and deaths. At the same time, the issue of illegal immigration has become a tool of partisan attacks and political struggles in the United States. Some Republican governors have used buses and planes to move illegal immigrants and refugees from the state to areas ruled by Democrats. What happened to the United States, a country that prides itself on the "American Dream" and "melting pot"?

Confusing farce

Recently, there has been a jaw-dropping phenomenon in the United States: illegal immigrants have become instruments of partisan attacks and political struggles in the United States.

According to the US "Business Insider" news website, on September 20, local time, the immigrant group that had previously been shipped to the Vineyard Island of Martha in Massachusetts filed a class action lawsuit against Florida Governor De Santis, accusing his plan to resettle immigrants as fraudulent. Previously, DeSantis, in the name of stopping illegal immigrants from entering Florida, arranged two charter flights to transport about 50 immigrants from southern Texas to Vineyard Island in Martha, near Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, a popular holiday destination for Democratic celebrities such as former President Barack Obama.

Recently, several Republican governors have arranged transportation to transport groups of immigrants to cities ruled by Democrats. Beginning in April, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott used a "surprise attack" to transport stranded Texas immigrants by bus to Democratic-run cities of Washington, New York and Chicago, accumulating more than 10,000 people, including more than 100 who arrived outside Vice President Kamala Harris's Washington residence on September 14. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey also sent nearly 2,000 immigrants to Washington.

The Democratic and Republican parties also engaged in a "war of words." Republican governors have vowed to "share" the burden of caring for immigrants with Democrats. Democrats denounced it as a "despicable political conspiracy." U.S. President Joe Biden himself went down. According to the US "Capitol Hill" and other media reports, in response to the news that De Santis may send border immigrants to Biden's hometown of Delaware, Biden said that De Santis should come over to visit Delaware because the latter has a "beautiful coastline." The "confusing farce" is the latest episode of Biden's conflict with DeSantis over immigration, drawing renewed attention to the Biden administration's border policy.

At present, the immigration situation at the US border is becoming more serious. Data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Sept. 19 shows that more than 2.15 million undocumented immigrants were arrested at the U.S. southwest border in the 11 months to August this year. The daily newspaper Capitol Hill pointed out that the number of undocumented immigrants arrested at the southwestern border of the United States in a year has never exceeded 2 million.

To make matters worse, the death toll continues to climb. Since fiscal year 2022, which began on October 1, 2021, 782 immigrants have died while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, another record high, Fox News reported. On June 27, U.S. law enforcement officers found the remains of 53 immigrants in the compartment of a large truck in Texas, the worst death of an immigrant in the United States in recent years. Earlier this year, the International Organization for Migration listed the U.S.-Mexico border as the deadliest land-based migration route in the world. Los Angeles Times columnist Jane Guerrero, who has walked the Arizona border, said, "America's border has become a huge grave."

Used as a "key weapon"

"There may be no more deeply rooted 'red-and-blue disagreement' than the issue of immigration." Republicans believe the immigration issue will be a key weapon in their midterm election to regain control of the Congress from Democrats. The Washington Times recently commented.

"Immigration is a controversial topic in American society. In recent years, immigration has become increasingly politicized and has become one of the focal points of the two parties around elections, with positions on immigration largely divided by partisanship. Immigrant groups, especially Hispanic immigrants, are an important basic board of the Democratic Party, while the lower-middle-class white group, which has a general negative attitude toward immigration, is the basic board of the Republican Party. In midterm election years, when both parties spared no effort to mobilize their ballot pools for the sake of votes, the issue of immigration naturally became a key issue tool for both parties to attack each other. Gong Ting, an associate researcher at the Institute of American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, pointed out in an interview with this newspaper that "the Trump administration's practice of significantly tightening immigration policies has been fiercely criticized and attacked by the United States, especially the Democratic Party." Biden has made a big fuss about immigration during the campaign, trying to use immigration to boost the image and support of the Democratic Party and attract voters, especially the Hispanic group. Biden also tried to reform immigration policy after taking office. So far, however, the Biden administration's response to the immigration crisis has been lackluster, and it has been slow to decide whether to cancel Trump's immigration deportation order. Since the beginning of this year, the number of illegal immigrants arrested in the United States has reached a new high, and the problems of human rights violations and humanitarian crises caused by immigration problems have become prominent. ”

The influx of refugees has put a lot of pressure on Florida, Texas and other places. According to the US media, these Republican-dominated states have targeted the Biden administration, believing that the immigration policies of the Biden administration have led to an increase in the number of immigrants. The Financial Times said that it is an indisputable fact that Democrats do not have an advantage on the immigration issue, and Republicans choose to exaggerate the immigration issue at this time, and even break Harris's efforts to whitewash the peace, and its underlying logic is a political game. De Santis's move to push immigration to the top of the political agenda helped reunite Republicans. In a Sept. 16 poll conducted by Siena College and The New York Times, 51 percent of registered voters surveyed agreed with Republicans on illegal immigration, and only 37 percent of registered voters surveyed supported Democrats on the issue.

As the midterm elections approach, the "war" between the two parties in the United States over immigration has become white-hot. De Santis is seeking re-election in the November election, and Albert is also seeking his third term as governor. According to the Financial Times, Republicans are trying to boost their midterm election popularity through immigration gimmicks. After the Supreme Court overturned the National Abortion Protection Act and Trump allegedly leaked information about Mar-a-Lago estate, Republicans need to regain an edge over Democrats. "Both sides are playing a game that stimulates voters in the camp, and immigration issues inspire Republicans more than anything else."

Forced to pay a heavy price

CBS recently said that the shelters in New York City are currently on the verge of collapse. Mayor Adams said the city has opened 23 emergency shelters and is even considering using cruise ships as shelters. Dozens of immigrant families were eventually arranged to sleep in a park after arriving in Sacramento, California, by bus and plane.

Reuters released an exclusive report that 7 U.S. officials and 3 Mexican officials revealed that as border crossers in the southern United States soared to all-time highs, the Biden administration is secretly pressuring Mexico to accept immigration from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to ease pressure from the United States.

Today, immigrants continue to flock to the U.S. border. They come with the "American Dream", but what awaits them may only be the costly "Dream Shattered".

"This is closely related to the profound changes that American domestic politics are experiencing in recent years." On the whole, the attitude of the United States to economic globalization has become more and more negative, protectionism, populism, nativism and other ideological trends have further risen, and the attitude of American society towards immigrants has become more divisive. Conservative voters have a more negative attitude toward immigrants, believing that immigrants have seized jobs that belong to them and have taken away their social welfare 'cake'. Economic and social antagonisms between ethnic groups are intensifying, and the rift and debate between white supremacy and cultural pluralism are intensifying. Gong Ting analyzed that "the order to pull immigrants from the border to Washington, D.C. and other places, and to carry out 'immigration demonstrations', basically Republican governors and other state-level officials in the southern border states." Approaching National Voting Day in the midterm elections, Republicans are trying to create more confusion over immigration, an issue that Democrats have mishandled, to hit the Democratic election. This not only highlights the growing bipartisan strife and political polarization in the United States, but also reflects the inherent contradiction between the federal and local decentralization. This is the institutional root cause of America's inability to effectively address the immigration crisis. ”

As a Washington Post article titled "America First" obscures the "American Dream," words such as "American Dream" and "melting pot" are often used to describe America's identity and inclusiveness. However, "America First" is the word that is most relevant to the discussion of inclusion and immigration, and it has been around for a long time. And "America First" in the minds of some people can be used to express right-wing nationalism or more directly white nationalism.

Whether from an institutional point of view or a conceptual point of view, the immigration problem in the United States is temporarily unresolved. Gong Ting said: "In recent years, especially during this midterm election, 'Trumpism' has shown outstanding influence in the United States and within the Republican Party. This shows that the conservative trend in the United States, especially protectionism and nativism, may further intensify. As a result, anti-immigrant sentiment in American society is likely to continue to simmer, and the debate over immigration between the two parties, between federal localities, between states, and among voter groups will become more intense. ”

Reporter Zhang Hong