CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked Sunday on “State of the Union” if Govs. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) were “trolling” by sending migrants to northern cities.
Tapper said, “Florida Governor Ron DeSantis flew planes of migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard without any warning to local officials. I get that immigration is a mess and has needed reform for decades. These are people fleeing Marxism in Venezuela. Many were falsely told there would be jobs and housing wait waiting for them when they arrived in Massachusetts. Do you support what Abbott and DeSantis are doing?”
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) said, “They’re doing their best to try to send a message to the rest of the nation about the plight of those individuals that are coming from south of the border. You’re talking about 3.4 million people just since the start of this Biden administration that have crossed the border.”
Tapper said, “This immigration crisis has been going on literally for decades. There hasn’t been a major immigration bill since Ronald Reagan was president.”
He continued, “One of the buses sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott dropped off about 50 migrants in front of the vice president’s residence, including a 1-month-old baby. There isn’t any heads up being given to Mayor Adams. You just heard from him or the individuals on Martha’s Vineyard. I get they are trying to send a message, trying to get the attention, but isn’t there a degree of trolling going on here? Do you really have no issue with using human beings, a 1-month-old baby, little kids to make a political point like this?
Rounds said, “You have to put it in perspective of what’s happening at the southern border right now. This is every single day, thousands of individuals coming across with babies. They’re coming into those states. That’s governors are facing that not just in terms of 50 of them, they’re talking hundreds, if not thousands per day. ”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN