The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is on a dingy road between a gas station and a cemetery, about two miles from the state capitol. It’s an office building, with a hard-to-find entrance and no church to care for those in need.

About a dozen Hispanic asylum seekers were dumped here by the state of Florida last Friday. Days later, another 20 migrants arrived, courtesy of the Sunshine State.

Florida authorities have called it a “voluntary move,” suggesting the powerless, impoverished deportees were involved in their transcontinental evacuation and once-ceremonial delivery.

In fact, it’s just the latest human sacrifice on the altar of political ambition by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seeking the White House.

His backward legislature, which makes virtually every wish of DeSantis his command, has allocated $24 million to ship migrants, even those outside of Florida, from the southern border to other, mostly Democratic, states.

Take that, you awake lefties!

Columnists Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak discuss the political stunt and scorpions-in-a-bottle relationship between DeSantis and the governor of California. Gavin Newsom, who wants to run for president.

Chabria: Looking at these flights, I can’t help but notice that DeSantis will be in Sacramento later this month for a $3,300 breakfast per muffin to raise money.

These flights made headlines that no paid media could match as the national one

attention. My cynical side wonders if this is all just publicity for a presidential candidate. Could it be that simple, if it’s mean?

Barabak: Yes, that would be possible.

Let your weary, your poor, your huddled masses longing to breathe free serve as a politically progressive team. Get those checkbooks out, folks, Ron

cq

DeSantis is coming to town!

His burgeoning bid for the White House has not gone nearly as well as the pre-promised hype.

The formal announcement was a glitchy embarrassment. (That will teach him to outsource tech support to Elon Musk’s gum-and-bale wire version of Twitter.)

DeSantis still seems to be working on connecting with voters, a crucial part of the presidency that all the admiration from Florida’s ambitious first lady can’t help.

So apparently he’s chosen to fire up the old outrage machine, and what better way to stir people up than to stir up the familiar immigration issue?

Do you think, Anita, it was a coincidence that Florida closed the doorbell on Newsom’s front door instead of flying the victims to Maryland or Louisiana, which also have Democratic governors?

Chabria: Not me.

There is no end to the animosity between Newsom and DeSantis. They’ve been whining about hair gel and Disneyland. They have skirmished over guns, abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and education. Newsom took his family on a vacation through the South and picked the governor of Florida in the neck of the woods.

Now DeSantis is returning the favor.

But let’s not pretend that our own governor wasn’t thrilled to respond to this latest provocation. While it’s true that Newsom’s White House ambitions have been caged by Biden’s decision to run again, they remain alive and well.

Our geriatric president’s tripping over a sandbag at the start of the Air Force Academy in Colorado last week was just the latest reminder of his advanced age and the concerns it causes in Democratic circles. No doubt Newsom isn’t alone in wondering if there are any more sandbags on the 80-year-old Biden’s road.

Meanwhile, he can thank DeSantis for putting the national spotlight on something other than California’s homeless crisis right now.

But Newsom aside, immigration is a vital issue that we as a country have failed to address politically, resulting in incalculable human suffering. Even under Obama we separated families.

So in that sense, do you think DeSantis has a point? Can the Democrats really claim a high position on the issue?

Barabak: Obama, as you point out, angered many with his approach to immigration. Critics labeled him “deporter-in-chief” because of the millions smuggled out of the country during his eight-year tenure.

Biden, for his part, has been attacked for being too lax in border enforcement and too harsh in his administration’s treatment of immigrants.

Yes, as you mentioned, our immigration system is a mess and generations of politicians have ignored the problem or worse, exploited it for their own selfish ends.

However, I think we can agree that blatantly exploiting people for political gain by moving them across the country as cargo and dropping them on the sidewalk like a used candy wrapper is a very different form of cruelty and callousness. irresponsibility.

None of this takes place in a political vacuum. But if we play out the electoral implications, let’s not forget that these are flesh-and-blood people who are being horribly exploited at perhaps the most fearful and vulnerable moment in their lives.

Just there for the grace.

Chabria: My father arrived by boat as a refugee, so you won’t get into a fight with me.

It’s important that our Attorney General, Rob Bonta, investigate

whether the flights were a form of human trafficking or kidnapping, as our governor tweeted in a moment of high exaggeration. These are people who are blatantly being used for campaigning purposes and who deserve the full protection and respect of our laws.

Of course Bonta is

probably

run for governor

(he hints at it but didn’t announce it)

and doesn’t mind the large amount of attention, just more proof that you can’t separate politics from policy or cameras from campaigns.

Barabak: I’m not a lawyer, and I won’t try to play for it in the paper. But I think the chance of someone going to jail for pulling this stunt is about as likely as DeSantis and Newsom running together on a unity ticket in 2024.

“Tweeting is not policy,” was the explanation given when our itchy-fingered governor issued a hollow threat against Walgreens in a battle over abortion access.

Nor is it an accuser.

Maybe we need a law requiring a 48 hour wait before Newsom tweets.

Chabria: I will say this because it is vital that California leaders stand up to the bigotry and bias that DeSantis and others are spewing out.

.

It gives people here confidence that their rights will be protected.

Whether Newsom and, to a lesser extent, Bonta have political motives or sound legal arguments, they speak loudly for the values ​​of this state.

As a fan of the dark Brandon, Biden’s aviator-sporting alter ego, I think there’s something to be said for striking back.

But these “voluntary moves” will continue, won’t they, because they serve their purpose so well? We’re all about it here.

Barabak: I have said it before and will repeat it: there is no organism on earth more sensitive to heat and light than a politician.

As long as candidates like DeSantis believe there is an advantage to be gained from performative political acts such as the callous dumping of migrants, such tricks will continue.

But let’s not let voters get off the hook.

Until and unless they convince lawmakers that they need to address the immigration issue in a meaningful way, meaning that legislation and compromise is needed from all sides or that they are seriously at risk of losing office, they will continue to do nothing.

Meanwhile, to quote a wise political observer, Bob Dylan, I feel sorry for the poor immigrant.