Dear Editors,

Many public officials turn to outrageous PR stunts while campaigning. This includes filling buses with migrants who believe they are going one place, only to drop them off at another that is completely unprepared to receive them and then simply leaving the scene. The messaging behind these actions dehumanizes an entire group of people just to inflame voters’ attitudes against the other party or candidates. However, people are not cargo and treating them as such is inhumane and cruel. 

The governors of Texas and Florida have been sending buses and flights filled with migrants to locations like Vice President Kamala Harris’s personal residence and Martha’s Vineyard where former President Obama has a residence. In each instance, the hosts of the migrants’ final destination have been completely unaware of the sudden drop offs and had to scramble to provide resources. According to NPR in September 2022, migrants aboard the flight to Martha’s Vineyard thought even they were headed for Boston and it was difficult to communicate with them where they were once they arrived at the vineyard instead of their original destination. 

Misleading people who already struggle to find their footing is wrong. Additionally, shipping them as if they are cargo sends a terrible message that dehumanizes the migrant population in this country. It is abhorrent to use people as political tools in stunts. Migrants’ livelihoods are at stake in many of these cases as they are trying to gain stability in a new country and are clinging onto offers of “help”. The process of getting into the US is incredibly difficult and it is wrong to complicate this with lies that people will base their entire future around while also using them as political props. 

Sincerely,

Elise Gerardi