Among the mostly Colombian migrant adults and children moved to Pennsylvania this week by right-wing governor Greg Abbott is a 10-year-old girl who arrived in Philadelphia so sick that she had to be immediately hospitalized.
Numerous reports say the child was suffering from a high fever and dehydration, and was taken to get immediate medical care after arriving on Wednesday under an expansion of Abbott’s busing.
The Texas governor had in a press release the day before touted using more children and families as human props, and, as with his busing stunts to other cities, intentionally did not coordinate with local officials. NBC News reports that officials in Philadelphia “lashed out” at Abbott following the sick child’s arrival.
RELATED STORY: D.C. attorney general says he's probing whether migrants bused to capital were tricked by GOP
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"There's a 10-year-old who's completely dehydrated," Philadelphia council member Helen Gym said in the NBC News report. “It's one of the more inhumane aspects that they would put a child who was dehydrated with a fever now, a very high fever (on the bus) … It's a terrible situation."
The truly deplorable governor made clear in his announcement that the busing had nothing to do with addressing arrivals at the southern border, but rather about trolling and political retribution. “Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has long-celebrated and fought for sanctuary city status, making the city an ideal addition to Texas' list of drop-off locations,” Abbott’s office said.
”Kenney, a Democrat, expressed outrage Wednesday at Abbott for his tactics,” NBC News reported. “Kenney said his office was told last week that a bus of about 30 asylum-seekers would be expected to travel to his city from Del Rio, Texas, but he said Texas officials did not coordinate their arrival.” Abbott last month admitted he lied when he claimed during his gubernatorial debate against Beto O’Rourke and claimed New York City’s mayor had not contacted him.
He’d said Eric Adams “never called my office, never talked to anybody in my administration,” but Abbott was actually just a damned liar.
While details were scant at the time, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported last month that D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine was opening an investigation into whether migrants sent by Republican governors were tricked onto buses. He said migrants interviewed by his office’s investigators “have talked persuasively about being misled, with talk about promised services,” the outlets reported.
That’s without a doubt been the case when it comes to Florida’s Ron DeSantis and his mysterious Perla Huerta, who has basically disappeared off the face of the planet after making false promise after false promise to desperate people.
“Time and time again, immigrants are used as tokens to advance the political agendas of individuals who have no interest in our communities’ well-being,” Juntos executive director Erika Guadalupe Núñez told The Philadelphia Inquirer. The outlet said families were being fed and sheltered by local groups and volunteers, and nearly all planned to eventually move on to other parts of the country. “It’s not the Four Seasons,” Casa De Venezuela founder Emilio Buitrago said in the report. “They have a room to rest, they have a little TV, a microwave. Their basic needs are going to be covered right now.”
“Seeking asylum is a human right,” Gym told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Our country has always welcomed people seeking refuge here, and we have flourished because of that.”
We're now in the second week of election overtime and there are still plenty of major races yet to be decided—as well as tons more great news for Democrats to exult over on this week's episode of
The Downballot. On the uncalled races front, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard dive into a pair of House races in California and several legislatures that could flip from red to blue, including the Pennsylvania House. Speaking of legislatures, the Davids also go deep on what the astonishing flips in Michigan will mean for progressives and particularly organized labor.
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