Illegal aliens are being kicked out of Martha’s Vineyard, and the island’s fabulously wealthy inhabitants are upset. Which is totally different from three years ago, when the island’s fabulously wealthy inhabitants were upset by and kicked out the illegal aliens.
There are times when doing my job here at The Patriot Post is stranger than fiction. I’ve been doing this for 21 years, and I’m still sometimes amazed at the chutzpah and total lack of self-awareness of some on the Left. This is one of those times, and I must admit it gave me a good laugh.
The Washington Post has the scoop in a story titled “An ICE raid disrupts life on Martha’s Vineyard.” The subtitle is even more amusing: “After migrant workers were shackled and boarded onto Coast Guard boats, a community that prides itself on openness has been left to deal with the painful fallout.” The hilarious punchline, though, is in the first paragraph:
A million-dollar home excavation project has been delayed because workers were too afraid to show up at the construction site. A pool at a vacation inn was closed to guests after the maintenance crew didn’t arrive.
Man, if those aren’t First World problems, I don’t know what are.
The backstory causing all of this chaos and immense suffering for the coastal elitists living in their lavish vacation homes on Martha’s Vineyard and adjacent Nantucket is this: “Masked immigration officers wearing bulletproof vests arrived on Coast Guard boats right after the Memorial Day weekend and detained several dozen people on both islands.” Across Massachusetts, there were “nearly 1,500 arrests,” though on the islands, “about 40 people were detained, including” — get this — “an alleged MS-13 gang member and someone described as a ‘child sex offender.’”
Island residents aren’t upset that an MS-13 member and a child sex offender were in their midst. They’re upset because U.S. immigration authorities showed up to detain illegal aliens.
You see why I found this so funny? I’m only to the fourth paragraph of Post writer Arelis R. Hernández’s lengthy investigative report about just how awful Donald Trump and his darn enforcement of the law have made things for the compassionate diversity-lovers on these utopian islands.
“The arrests hit a nerve in a liberal enclave known for welcoming everyone,” Hernández laments. “Residents staged a protest at the ferry docks where agents were loading shackled migrants onto boats. One man followed the officers with a camera and heckled them.”
At least they didn’t riot and set police cars aflame like the thugs in Los Angeles are busy doing in response to ICE raids.
More from the Post:
“It’s bullying,” said Charlie Giordano, a longtime resident and small business owner who recorded the video. “I don’t know how many are illegal or legal, I don’t give a s***. But I do care about how they’re treated.”
Actually, the difference between legal and illegal is precisely the point. If you’re here legally, congratulations and welcome to America. If you crossed our border illegally or overstayed a visa, look out, lawbreaker.
Conflating legal and illegal is the strategy for the Left, and it’s how they justify patting themselves on the back for their incredible “compassion” amidst Joe Biden’s border crisis. The Post makes this explicit: “The arrests have put a spotlight on the tensions brewing between the Trump administration, which is determined to ramp up arrests and deportations of unauthorized immigrants, and communities like Martha’s Vineyard that have long prided themselves on protecting immigrants.”
Here I must pause to recount the history you undoubtedly remember.
Hernández recalled this, too, yet seemingly without any awareness of the hypocrisy, and without telling the story accurately, either.
In 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) flew dozens of Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in what he said was an attempt to push “sanctuary jurisdictions” like this one to confront the burden of soaring migration. Islanders welcomed many of the migrants with jobs and housing.
Residents said the recent arrests felt far more disruptive.
In contrast to that charming portrait of 2022, there were howls of outrage at the idea that DeSantis would put Martha’s Vineyard in such an untenable position. Here’s how our Mark Alexander covered the story at the time:
The newcomers were cordoned off by police in a one-block area and not allowed to leave that area until arrangements could be made to get them bused off the island. While people were kind, as we all would be, there were no leftist celebrities opening their homes or making any attempt to keep them on the island, despite the fact that there are plenty of fine accommodations available. Additionally, there are “Now Hiring” and “Help Wanted” signs in every business window given that seasonal high school and college kids have departed, but no jobs for the immigrants — as soon as funding was available, they were deported.
In fact, 125 Massachusetts National Guard troops were sent to Martha’s Vineyard to enforce the deportation order. Just four of the migrants were allowed to stay. In California today, Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom is suing the Trump administration for sending the National Guard to quell violent riots. What a difference three years and a new administration can make!
Hernández concludes her report with left-wing activism disguised as quoting the subjects of the story. Under the heading “America needs us,” she relays many things: “Several high school seniors from Brazilian families missed their final exams,” businesses are losing money, “workers with legal status are having to take on more hours to fill gaps,” and translators are worried “about people’s mental health.” Those are the consequences of building an economy around lawbreakers. It is not the fault of law enforcement officers.
The section header is a quote from “M.N., a local business owner and community leader originally from Brazil who has raised three children here,” and who “spoke on the condition that her initials be used instead of her full name because she feared her family would be targeted.” That’s a strong indicator that “M.N.” is not here legally. The article ends with her quote: “We are not destroying America. America needs us.”
Personally, I can have some sympathy for a productive business owner like M.N. But that sympathy doesn’t go very far if she’s here illegally. The civic activism of this “Brazilian community leader” is even problematic when considered in the context of another line from the story: “The school system employs Portuguese-speaking translators to assist Brazilian families, whose children make up roughly half the student population.”
You mean to tell me that American taxpayers are funding translators because half the kids in a public school don’t speak English? That’s utterly outrageous, not a cause for a sob story in a major American newspaper.
As for “America needs us,” M.N. and millions like her have bought the Democrats’ twisted lie — the same one they’ve been telling for more than two centuries. Who will pick our cotton if the slaves are freed? Who will do our laundry and clean our swimming pools if the “undocumented workers” are deported?
The vast majority of migrants may not intend to destroy America, but a nation without borders is no longer a nation. What word would they use to describe that besides “destroy”?
You know, the more I read the story, the less funny I found it.
