Oddly, I read this entire thread. I'm curious about the cost to our country in taxpayer dollars. I'm not even discussing the costs of educating the migrant kids or the health costs of treating the migrant children and their families.

I believe I am a moderate to liberal person. However, this immigration policy is unsustainable . Just look at some of the early costs for our cities and states:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – $16.464 billion is provided in base discretionary funding for CBP, as well as $1.563 billion to address increased encounters at the Southwest Border. In total, $7.153 billion is provided for the U.S. Border Patrol for operations, hiring, and Southwest Border surge requirements, which is a 17 percent increase above FY22.

Texas has already spent $4.4 billion (of non-federal, Texas taxpayer dollars} just on boarder security measures.

So far, (in DC) the city’s new Office of Migrant Services has spent more than $15.1 million on hotel lodging, food and other services, according to the Department of Human Services (DHS), which oversees the agency.
The expenses are projected to climb to $52.5 million by October amid expectations of another surge, DHS said, undermining the city’s efforts to close an estimated $1.7 billion budget gap.

he Chicago City Council voted 34-13 Wednesday to spend $51 million from the city’s 2021 budget surplus to help care for migrants sent to Chicago from Texas after tension between Black and Latino Chicagoans boiled over, resulting in an intense debate that featured racist abuse.

In all, city officials expect to spend $112 million through the end of June from a combination of state, federal and local funds to feed and shelter the migrants, who are seeking asylum in the United States after fleeing poverty and violence in Central and South America.

New York City is spending about $8 million a day to house the 37,500 asylum seekers currently in shelters, a burden that is straining the budget and overwhelming city agencies, officials said Monday.

This is nonsense. These dollars should be spent helping out our own homeless population and those in need. .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I feel like I'm watching frat boys gone wild with these childish antics.

We can't sit down and talk to one another like grown up adults across a table. It's not possible when one side behaves and acts like children.

Florida's governor is being played for a fool. He should be governing Florida, and he should not be getting involved in human trafficking migrants by funding their transport across state lines. This is so beyond disturbing.

+1 This is not governance.

Every time Republicans trust Democrats in good faith, they get screwed. No more.

Yep. No more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DeSantis spent $650,000 of the Florida taxpayers money to transport about 50 migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.

How much do you think it would cost you to fly from Texas to Massachusetts? One way. About $130,000?

It was a political stunt, but even if it wasn't, how utterly moronic is this?

Lots of people in Florida voted for him anyway, although I would bet 99% of those who did do not know the details of the political stunt, they just thought it was funny. I guess they thought it was okay for him to move Venezuelan people from Texas to Massachusetts. For $130,000 each.

DeSantis feels so deprived because he doesn't have his own illegal immigrants. Stupid Cubans and their wet foot dry foot policy!

He was making a (very valuable) point, which has clearly flown far over your head.

I can see where some people, like you, might believe that. Spend $13,000 per migrant to fly them somewhere that typically costs a few hundred dollars. For 50 people.

I think you are right in that there are a bunch of DeSantis supporters in Florida who thought that was a very cool idea and a good use of their hard earned Florida money. Send Venezuelans from Texas to Massachusetts at huge expense to make a (very valuable) point. What was the point again?

Meanwhile, Republicans can no longer complain about Democrats giving "free sh!t to illegals" given DeSantis gave a bunch of illegals a free $13,000 vacation on Martha's Vinyard.

You think so? How long were they actually there? A day? The people at Martha's Vineyard couldn't get rid of them fast enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DeSantis spent $650,000 of the Florida taxpayers money to transport about 50 migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.

How much do you think it would cost you to fly from Texas to Massachusetts? One way. About $130,000?

It was a political stunt, but even if it wasn't, how utterly moronic is this?

Lots of people in Florida voted for him anyway, although I would bet 99% of those who did do not know the details of the political stunt, they just thought it was funny. I guess they thought it was okay for him to move Venezuelan people from Texas to Massachusetts. For $130,000 each.

DeSantis feels so deprived because he doesn't have his own illegal immigrants. Stupid Cubans and their wet foot dry foot policy!

He was making a (very valuable) point, which has clearly flown far over your head.

I can see where some people, like you, might believe that. Spend $13,000 per migrant to fly them somewhere that typically costs a few hundred dollars. For 50 people.

I think you are right in that there are a bunch of DeSantis supporters in Florida who thought that was a very cool idea and a good use of their hard earned Florida money. Send Venezuelans from Texas to Massachusetts at huge expense to make a (very valuable) point. What was the point again?

Meanwhile, Republicans can no longer complain about Democrats giving "free sh!t to illegals" given DeSantis gave a bunch of illegals a free $13,000 vacation on Martha's Vinyard.

Anonymous wrote:

I feel like I'm watching frat boys gone wild with these childish antics.

We can't sit down and talk to one another like grown up adults across a table. It's not possible when one side behaves and acts like children.

Florida's governor is being played for a fool. He should be governing Florida, and he should not be getting involved in human trafficking migrants by funding their transport across state lines. This is so beyond disturbing.

+1 This is not governance.

Every time Republicans trust Democrats in good faith, they get screwed. No more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DeSantis spent $650,000 of the Florida taxpayers money to transport about 50 migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.

How much do you think it would cost you to fly from Texas to Massachusetts? One way. About $130,000?

It was a political stunt, but even if it wasn't, how utterly moronic is this?

Lots of people in Florida voted for him anyway, although I would bet 99% of those who did do not know the details of the political stunt, they just thought it was funny. I guess they thought it was okay for him to move Venezuelan people from Texas to Massachusetts. For $130,000 each.

DeSantis feels so deprived because he doesn't have his own illegal immigrants. Stupid Cubans and their wet foot dry foot policy!

He was making a (very valuable) point, which has clearly flown far over your head.

I can see where some people, like you, might believe that. Spend $13,000 per migrant to fly them somewhere that typically costs a few hundred dollars. For 50 people.

I think you are right in that there are a bunch of DeSantis supporters in Florida who thought that was a very cool idea and a good use of their hard earned Florida money. Send Venezuelans from Texas to Massachusetts at huge expense to make a (very valuable) point. What was the point again?

Send them to j Gilbert’s in McLean.

I feel like I'm watching frat boys gone wild with these childish antics.

We can't sit down and talk to one another like grown up adults across a table. It's not possible when one side behaves and acts like children.

Florida's governor is being played for a fool. He should be governing Florida, and he should not be getting involved in human trafficking migrants by funding their transport across state lines. This is so beyond disturbing.

+1 This is not governance.

I feel like I'm watching frat boys gone wild with these childish antics.

We can't sit down and talk to one another like grown up adults across a table. It's not possible when one side behaves and acts like children.

Florida's governor is being played for a fool. He should be governing Florida, and he should not be getting involved in human trafficking migrants by funding their transport across state lines. This is so beyond disturbing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
(I think you mean "sanctuary." It's a totally different term, right?)

Why should local law enforcement be forced to be the enforcement arm of federal policy? Isn't that supposed to be the job of federal law enforcement?

What you are proposing is against state and local freedom. It's un-American.

So all the rhetoric about migrants being welcome is just rhetoric? The border states want actual border security. Politicians who opposed policies like stay in Mexico should have no problem housing the migrants they argued should be allowed in

Dp- rhetoric? All it means is that local law enforcement isn’t doing the fed’s job for them. It also allows illegal immigrants to report crimes without fear.

NP.... and you are exactly right. Nobody in "sanctuary cities" is saying those cities will pay for room and board and everything else. Not even the mayor of San Francisco says that. That narrative is a fiction, a gross embellishment that's purely made-up by the right wing. it's their rhetoric, not ours.

Sanctuary city means the city will not enforce immigration law. And they shouldn't, either - because it's not the city's job to do it. Immigration enforcement is strictly a matter of federal jurisdiction.

Hope that sets you straight, OP - because that is the fact, and anyone who's suggested otherwise to you is wrong.

Op here and thanks for the details and that makes sense. But then, wouldn't illegal immigrants prefer to be in these cities so they aren't living in constant fear (like they are in TX and FL)?

I agree that the false pretenses is awful and should be banned. But for the sake of discussion, what if there weren't false pretenses? What if I am governor of a state and offer illegal immigrants an opportunity to go to another city (for free transportation) to a sanctuary city. Would there be anything wrong with that?

From my (very limited) understanding of all this, it seems like these cities don't want and can't take in all these illegal immigrants. I'm trying to figure out why immigrants would want to stay in the states that don't offer protections and why it's so much better to stay in TX/FL than it would be to go to more immigrant friendly states?

Migrants should go where there is safety but also opportunity and capacity. The problem with just randomly dumping busload after busload of migrants on DC's streets as Texas has done is that DC's shelters are already overflowing and out of room and DC's services are over capacity and and it would be far more expensive to try and add more capacity in DC than it is in most other parts of the country.

If your house has capacity, do your part!

+1
And EVERY house has capacity. Homeowners can sleep on the living room couch and give up their bedroom.

Send them to Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen. They have plenty of room in their massive megachurches. They've collected countless millions and millions to do God's work. Jesus clearly said Christians should take care of the sick, the poor and the hungry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We do actually want them. Have you peeked into a restaurant kitchen, construction site, et cetera? We gainfully employ them by the millions. As such the better answer would be to fix the visa program so they can come here legally and work. And at the same time, fix the system for dealing with asylees. Republicans have refused to provide much needed funding and resources to speed up hearings and deportations so that there isn't a massive backlog forcing us to just turn them loose and ask them to show up for a hearing date 2 years out. Why can't we do any of that?

So you want cheap labor, or at least believe the stories coming from the lobbyists for companies that want cheap labor.

You keep coming off as clueless. Family-run restaurants are using migrant labors. Small farms are using migrant labor. Many small businesses use migrant labor. These are not big corporations with lobbyists.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Sorry my math was bad, it was $13,000 each. Same point though.

Honestly it’s not much worse than dumping money on endless homeless services where we all know that involuntary commitment is about the only effective measure with most of them.
Not saying I support it; what I want to say is that so much of govt spending is money down the drain anyway

THIS ^^. I guess the PP would prefer we continue to flush money away on "root cause" BS.

Not dealing with root causes is like trying to deal with a deep gushing arterial wound that can only be fixed with surgery by just putting a bandaid over it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DeSantis spent $650,000 of the Florida taxpayers money to transport about 50 migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.

How much do you think it would cost you to fly from Texas to Massachusetts? One way. About $130,000?

It was a political stunt, but even if it wasn't, how utterly moronic is this?

Lots of people in Florida voted for him anyway, although I would bet 99% of those who did do not know the details of the political stunt, they just thought it was funny. I guess they thought it was okay for him to move Venezuelan people from Texas to Massachusetts. For $130,000 each.

DeSantis feels so deprived because he doesn't have his own illegal immigrants. Stupid Cubans and their wet foot dry foot policy!

He was making a (very valuable) point, which has clearly flown far over your head.

I can see where some people, like you, might believe that. Spend $13,000 per migrant to fly them somewhere that typically costs a few hundred dollars. For 50 people.

I think you are right in that there are a bunch of DeSantis supporters in Florida who thought that was a very cool idea and a good use of their hard earned Florida money. Send Venezuelans from Texas to Massachusetts at huge expense to make a (very valuable) point. What was the point again?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the truth is that nobody wants them really.
Some are just afraid to say it and then they get busloads dumped on them. Their electorate wants them to welcome immigrants (just not on their street).
Too many people are abusing the legal Avenue of asking for asylum since they have a bogus claim but they can wait for years to get their hearing. I heard there’s no last in first to trial (and hopefully out) policy but not sure.
They have to wait for a few months or a year for their work permit so before that they work under the table (and sometimes after but they have the option to pay taxes and work legally).
There needs to be a law change. It’s like birthright citizenship that is legal but has become a loophole.

The truth is we don't want human beings treated as props for Republicans to use to make a point. DeSantis is actively trying to scoop up people who aren't even in Florida! So dehumanizing.

Yes we liberals will take care of them because they are people. And we'll take the refugees you were too scared to take. This is America, it's what we do.

And the truth is, we conservatives don’t want cartels to run the southern border, using children as chattel to get adults across. We don’t want you to thwart our efforts to make sure these kids are with family and not traffickers. So how about we make it much harder for people to get to/across the border, and also at the very least, enforce asylum law instead of pretending that you are. And there is no way in heck you will open the doors of your own home to take people in. How do I know this? Because you said “This is America”, meaning you have NO problem putting the burden of mass immigration on the American TAXPAYER, regardless of how some of those taxpayers feel. And when people rightfully complain about they personally are impacted by mass immigration, the liberal response is to call them bigots. BUT, when those unvetted immigrants you kindly let into the country commit a heinous crime, your response then is to look at a photo of a clearly ethnic man (samepeople you called brown when you were calling us bigots) you then try and tell us that person is white. So don’t speak to me about using people as props.

+100
Democrats are the very worst kind of hypocrites.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DeSantis spent $650,000 of the Florida taxpayers money to transport about 50 migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.

How much do you think it would cost you to fly from Texas to Massachusetts? One way. About $130,000?

It was a political stunt, but even if it wasn't, how utterly moronic is this?

Lots of people in Florida voted for him anyway, although I would bet 99% of those who did do not know the details of the political stunt, they just thought it was funny. I guess they thought it was okay for him to move Venezuelan people from Texas to Massachusetts. For $130,000 each.

DeSantis feels so deprived because he doesn't have his own illegal immigrants. Stupid Cubans and their wet foot dry foot policy!

He was making a (very valuable) point, which has clearly flown far over your head.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Sorry my math was bad, it was $13,000 each. Same point though.

Honestly it’s not much worse than dumping money on endless homeless services where we all know that involuntary commitment is about the only effective measure with most of them.
Not saying I support it; what I want to say is that so much of govt spending is money down the drain anyway

THIS ^^. I guess the PP would prefer we continue to flush money away on "root cause" BS.