Known for its pure magnificence and luxurious purchasing, the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod has lengthy been related to the U.S. political elite. The Kennedys holidayed there and former U.S. president Barack Obama selected the island to host his lavish sixtieth party.

September final yr ought to have been quiet as peak season got here to an finish, seasonal retailers shuttered, and part-time residents left their summer season houses to return to their common lives. But the island discovered itself on the heart of a political storm round immigration. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican who might run for the White House in 2024, purchased airline tickets for 50 asylum seekers to fly there from Texas in protest towards President Joe Biden’s insurance policies on immigration.

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Since then, hundreds of migrants have been bussed to Democrat-run northern cities from the Republican-run states of Texas, Arizona and Florida. Republican governors say blue states (Democrat) ought to share the duty of taking good care of the growing variety of migrants crossing the border. Numbers of migrants had dropped, however the finish of pandemic-related insurance policies is expected to lead to an uptick in the numbers crossing over the border.

While DeSantis’ transfer was initially criticized by Democrats, some cities and states run by Democrats within the south have additionally began bussing migrants north.

But the most recent information is that migrants’ journeys don’t cease there — now being moved even additional north, bounced round like balls in a recreation of political ping-pong.

Political buck-passing

Authorities in New York City have begun shuttling them as much as the Canadian border. And Quebec premier François Legault is demanding New York stop the buck-passing bus rides, which he says are straining the province’s asylum system.

The information this week has added to pressure from Quebec for the Canadian nationwide authorities to barter with the U.S. and shut a authorized loophole that allowed virtually 40,000 folks to cross into Canada final yr through Roxham Road, a stretch of nation highway in upstate New York.

Closing the border has by no means been the answer.

Last yr noticed file site visitors on the crossing, which spans the border between northern New York State and Quebec. Under the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) signed by the U.S. and Canada, migrants should make an asylum declare wherever they first land and might be turned again at official crossings — however the settlement doesn’t apply in the event that they enter Canada through an unofficial crossing like Roxham Road.

The crossing has change into so fashionable that in Plattsburgh, N.Y., the final main city on the highway to Canada, teams of taxi drivers wait for brand new arrivals on the bus station and provide rides to the border, the place they’ll then cross on foot, La Presse studies.

U.S. and Canadian media reported earlier this month that New York City authorities have been buying bus tickets to Plattsburgh for asylum seekers — a lot of whom have, in flip, just lately been bussed to town from Republican-run southern states after crossing from Mexico.

“Some want to go to Canada, some want to go to warmer states, and we are there for them as they continue to move on with their pursuit of this dream,” New York City mayor Eric Adams said.

Now, the Quebec authorities is insisting that Canada negotiate with the U.S. to amend the settlement so that individuals may very well be despatched again even when they enter via unofficial crossings like Roxham Road.

No signal of a deal

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might increase the difficulty throughout U.S. President Joe Biden’s journey to Canada in March, however Canada’s immigration minister has mentioned he doesn’t anticipate to signal a brand new deal quickly, the Toronto Starstudies.

Legault says the province is operating out of area to accommodate folks and now not has the capability to welcome new asylum seekers. He met with the U.S. ambassador to Canada in February to push for amendments to the STCA settlement between the North American neighbors.

International borders are underneath federal jurisdiction, and Legault’s authorities says the province can do nothing besides stress Canada to barter an answer with the U.S. Still, because the Journal de Québec studies, the opposition Parti Québécois (PQ) has demanded that the provincial authorities discover a strategy to shut the crossing, even by sending provincial police to dam the highway — a suggestion Quebec’s public security minister dismissed as ridiculous.

Traveling even additional

In January, former PQ leader Jean-François Lisée said that if the federal authorities didn’t assist to resettle folks arriving at Roxham Road elsewhere in Canada, Quebec ought to take those that didn’t converse French or have fast household in Quebec and “put them on a nice, air-conditioned bus and bring them to Immigration Canada in Ottawa.”

But the federal authorities just lately started moving people who arrived at Roxham Road to the neighboring province of Ontario, Quebec’s immigration minister mentioned on Feb. 14 — though it’s unclear if this coverage will proceed.

Refugee advocates say closing the border will simply push folks to make extra harmful crossings, citing the destiny of Fritznel Richard, a Haitian man whose physique was present in early January after he tried to cross the Quebec-NY border on foot and froze to loss of life.

“Closing the border has never been the solution,” refugee advocate Hady Anne, a Mauritanian who himself crossed at Roxham Road. Speaking on the Quebec speak present Tout le monde en parle in February, Anne mentioned that individuals ought to be allowed to request asylum the place they need, and the place they really feel secure. “If people cross the United States to reach Canada, it’s because they don’t feel safe in the United States, or because they want to go to Canada. We have to give them that chance.”

— Riley Sparks

In other news …

💬 IN BRIEF

What do the words “rodeo,” “hurricane,” “aficionado,” “gazelle” or the U.S. slang word “boondocks” have in common? They were all borrowed from other languages and incorporated into the English vocabulary.

A study by global nonprofit Translators Without Borders confirms data from the U.S. Census Bureau: the number of people who speak a language other than English at home has nearly tripled in the last three decades: from 23.1 million to 67.8 million.

As there are between 350 and 430 languages spoken in the United States, making it one of the most linguistically diverse countries on the planet, Translators Without Borders wonders about “La riqueza lingüística de Estados Unidos” — i.e. whether the U.S. is “linguistically in danger.”

🏈 SO AMERICAN?

In France, “soccer” means soccer, while what Americans call football is, well, le football américain.

But the country does have an NFL body, governing an estimated 25,000+ gridiron enthusiasts in the country. And last week, the association proudly celebrated the first “Frenchie” to ever win the Super Bowl: Lucas Niang, an offensive lineman for the winning Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated the French-less Philadelphia Eagles.

Although he was born in New York, Niang’s father hails from France, and his mother from the Ivory Coast — and Niang sported a French flag on his helmet for the big game.

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