Editorial: Migrants flown to Sacramento are human beings, not political pawns

California officials are considering filing civil and criminal charges for what they call “state-sanctioned kidnapping” against whoever is responsible for flying migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border region to Sacramento on two planes the last few days.

According to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, the two planes carrying migrants from South America were chartered by the state of Florida, the very state whose Legislature recently passed a bill calling for prison time for anyone caught transporting undocumented immigrants. Nevertheless, these same Florida legislators have supported Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ scheme to transport migrants from anywhere in the country to liberal so-called sanctuary cities, expanding his previous program that flew migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. DeSantis has not claimed responsibility for the flights to Sacramento.

Let’s be clear — migrants are human beings, not cargo to be shipped around without regard for their humanity. Sacramento migrant aid workers said the migrants who were abandoned in front of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Sacramento on Friday had no idea what city or state they were in. The 12 men and four women from Venezuela and Colombia said they had been approached at a migrant center in El Paso and told that they would be taken to a place where they could get jobs and services. They were then driven about 100 miles to Deming, N.M., where they boarded flights that arrived in Sacramento. A second flight of 20 migrants arrived at a Sacramento airport from New Mexico on Monday morning.

When migrants arrive at the border, they are typically processed by immigration authorities who assign them a court date. Moving people across the country, without regard to their ability to get to their court hearings, is likely to jeopardize their immigration cases.

But these deceptive and cruel migrant-transport programs aren’t designed to help vulnerable men and women, who made harrowing journeys through jungles and dangerous terrain in the hope of a better life in the U.S. These are political stunts. DeSantis and GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who bused migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Washington last year, are ostensibly trying to make a statement against President Biden’s border policies, which Republicans claim are creating an open border. The reality is that the border is highly guarded and fortified by walled areas, and there aren’t many legal ways for people to migrate.

There’s no question that migration has put tremendous pressure on border communities. But real leaders try to solve problems, not worsen them with cruel tricks or political stunts that do little to help those communities or the desperate men and women seeking to enter the U.S.