Massachusetts Deploys National Guard to Deal with Migrant Crisis

Democratic politicians may be on the verge of realizing that the migration hawks were right all along, as they find themselves forced to employ and advocate policies seemingly more in line with Republicans as they deal with the realities of the migrant crisis.

This is the case in Massachusetts, where Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has mobilized the national guard to deal with the massive surge in migrants since Joe Biden suspended Title 42.

As the Washington Free Beacon reports, the state is using 250 members of the Massachusetts National Guard for the purpose of servicing migrants. This comes after Healey last month declared a state of emergency in relation to the issue.

In areas such as New Jersey, Colorado, New York, and Washington, D.C., politicians are beginning to employ similar tactics as they find themselves overwhelmed by the flood of asylum seekers from across the southern border.

According to the Free Beacon:

Governor Phil Murphy (D.) of neighboring New Jersey has also seemingly abandoned his pro-immigrant credentials now that the issue is at his state’s border. Murphy, who has previously said that New Jersey would be a sanctuary state, is vocally opposed to migrants in New York being transferred to his state.

“You need scale, enormous amount of federal support, resources that go beyond anything that we can afford,” Murphy said of accommodating the migrants. “Putting everything else aside, I just don’t see it.”

Colorado governor Jared Polis (D.) earlier this year took a page out of Governor Greg Abbott’s (R., Texas) playbook, busing migrants who had been difficult to accommodate to New York City and Chicago. D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser (D.), meanwhile, has twice tried to convince the Pentagon to deploy the national guard to assist with the migrant crisis, only for her requests to be rejected.

Healey, like other leaders in blue areas, places the blame on the federal government, calling the crisis the product of “a confusing tangle of immigration laws, an inability for migrants to obtain work authorization from the federal government, an increase in the number of people coming to Massachusetts, and the lack of an affordable housing supply in our state.”

New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has become a critic of the federal government on the issue of mass migration, blaming the White House for not providing enough funds and for dragging its feet on securing work authorizations for the migrants.

Like his counterparts in other cities and states, Adams has indulged in hawkish rhetoric recently, explicitly saying that “Any [migration] plan that does not include stopping the flow at the border, that’s a failed plan.”

And it is at the border that the administration’s failures begin, for the lack of adequate border security is what allows the constant stream of migrants. 

Biden threw the door to mass migration wide open by ending Title 42, under which U.S. officials were empowered to turn away illegal aliens as a means of protecting public health. Although Title 42 did not charge the deported individuals with criminal penalties, resulting in many attempting to cross multiple times, it was still a preferable situation to what had existed before.

Under Title 8, which was the status quo prior to Title 42 and became the norm once more upon Title 42’s expiration at 11:59 p.m. on May 11, migrants who cross the border are often released into the country while they wait for their cases to be heard.

And Biden has not only encouraged illegal border crossing, but made it easier by ensuring there is insufficient barrier. As The New American previously reported, the administration is auctioning off unused structural tubes that were supposed to be used for the border wall.

Is it any surprise that on Tuesday alone, Border Patrol officials caught over 7,000 migrants? And last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said they had 183,503 migrant encounters at the Mexican border in July.

While this number was lower than the same period last year, it was still a significant hike over June’s number of 144,566 encounters.

The migrant crisis is not only about wasted public resources and the lowering of Americans’ quality of life; it is also a matter of national security. As the Free Beacon reported, the White House has admitted that under its watch, 120 asylum seekers smuggled by an ISIS-linked group were allowed in the country.

The smuggling network, discovered by U.S. intelligence officials, was bringing Uzbeks into the country. Although there is not yet any indication that the individuals smuggled in were terrorists, the fact that a terror-linked organization could bypass border security and get people into the country by simply telling them to ask for asylum represents a major national security vulnerability.

These were all concerns conservatives brought up for years during the immigration debate, yet the Left focused on feel-good talking points such as “inclusivity” and “a nation of immigrants.” 

Now, the migration doves are having a rude awakening and unwittingly becoming hawks themselves.

To learn more about the immigration crisis and what can be done about it, click here.