Photo: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
By: Maribel Hastings and David Torres Updated 04 Oct 2022, 18: 09 pm EDT
The competition to show who is the most anti-immigrant Republican governor in the United States is ongoing. And it is not difficult for anyone to know that between Ron DeSantis, from Florida, and Greg Abbott, from Texas, the greatest inspiration for their measures against thousands of human beings who choose the United States as a country of salvation is to win the favor of the base most extreme Republican with his sights set on the presidential nomination in the elections of 2024.
It’s that simple, but that’s how complex the political landscape has become in the face of the midterm elections on November 8, with Abbott and DeSantis seeking re-election, but also with very specific projections regarding the presidential elections of 2024.
Simple, because Republicans like DeSantis and Abbott do not stop their political ambitions at anything, even if it is trampling on the human dignity of asylum seekers, sending them to Democratic cities to “learn”, according to them, because of what is happening on the southern border, which is a phenomenon that has occurred in the busiest border strip in the world even before the very existence of these governors.
Complex, because with their actions they are defining not only the future of their states, but that of this nation that already knew what it is to be under a regime like that of Donald Trump, with openly xenophobic and anti-immigrant public policies, to later become a destabilizing element of American democracy, after resoundingly losing —and not accepting it— the White House in 2020.
But while DeSantis and Abbott fight to become Trump’s successor between the most recalcitrant Republican base, the former president also threatens a second act in the search for the presidential nomination. And as in the first round, his preferred scapegoat continues to be immigrants.
At a rally in Warren, Michigan, on Saturday, Trump declared that it is vital that Congress pass into Republican hands to “stop the invasion on our southern border.” And he added that if the Democrats continue to control Congress, the situation “will get worse” because they want to “force a massive amnesty, and give undocumented people public assistance, free health insurance and the right to vote.”
In fact, this Republican extreme right seems to enjoy being identified with the worst of the Trump movement, which, although in political terms it turned out to be an electoral success among its own, represented a setback history that has kept American society anchored once again to issues that were believed to have been overcome.
In effect, racism and anti-immigrant sentiment continue to be part of the menu of options for American social behavior, topics that are now even part of the surveys of the most prestigious firms and universities in the country. I mean, it’s still being measured how racist you are in America today. Incredible.
That racism and extremism condoned and promoted by Republican leaders, whether directly or not condemning it, continues to take lives. For example, last week in Texas, two Anglo-Saxon brothers shot at a group of migrants who were drinking water on the side of the road, killing one of them and injuring a woman. One of the assailants was a warden at a migrant detention center in that state.
In this context, both the strategies and the campaigns for the intermediate elections in November are being developed, the results of which will be the prelude to the country in the that we will have to live in the coming years: if in one that continues to bet on cultural diversity and tolerance, or in another where even freedoms are limited due to public policies of exclusion and barbarism.
In recent months it has been found that the migration issue has been displaced by the economic issue, inflation, the pandemic, among many other priorities that need to be addressed in order to move forward . But if we think about it a little, immigration has not lost weight in the political debate, especially when it comes to making it responsible for all the ills that afflict the country; Of course, from the Republican and anti-immigrant perspective, as DeSantis and Greg Abbott have shown.
In his debate against Democrat Beto O’Rourke, the Last Friday, Abbott promised to continue sending migrants to Democratic cities, while avoiding two burning issues in his state and in the country: abortion rights and gun control.
And DeSantis, in the midst of the Florida disaster by hurricane “Ian”, it will continue to demonize immigrants, although many have been victims and others will surely contribute their labor to the reconstruction of the state.
Meanwhile, perhaps the main objective of this political bloc that continues to be “news” is to continue manipulating its base with easy and repetitive speeches to encourage closure and hatred towards the migrant, regardless of whether he comes to legally apply for asylum. In any case, the only thing they have managed to show is the worst face of this country before the world.