op·por·tun·is·tic
/ˌäpərt(y)o͞oˈnistik/
adjective
- exploiting chances offered by immediate circumstances without reference to a general plan or moral principle.
And when there is a chance to use any situation – ANY situation – for political gain, there is always an opportunistic, brazen, fear-mongering politician ready to take full advantage – and to make a pitch for campaign contributions, of course.
Such a person is U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District.
“Over 80 migrants were just dropped off in Shreveport, and many more busloads are expected to come in the next few weeks,” read his hysterical, but timely, fundraising letter to a constituent recently. “Not one phone call was made to any local officials to give them a heads-up or any clue as to who these people are, where they’ve come from, or where they’re going.”
He went on to say that Republicans “need to continue our fight to stem the flow of illegal immigration and complete the border wall.
“The only way we can do that is if we rebuild our majority in the House, and I need your help.
Can you help me stand up against Joe Biden’s dangerous agenda? Your $10 today can help me stop the flood at the border.”
That, folks, is unabashed opportunism by a brazen opportunist.
grandstanding
/ˈɡran(d)ˌstandiNG/
noun
- the action of behaving in a showy or ostentatious manner in an attempt to attract favorable attention from spectators or the media.
Of course, not to be outdone, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy was quick to jump into the fray without learning any of the facts behind the coercion and exploitation and greed.
“The White House cannot dump groups of Haitian refugees into Louisiana communities with nowhere to go, no photo ID, and no money,” Cassidy said. “It appears Washington told ICE to just ‘send them somewhere,’ and apparently gave little to no notice to state and local officials. Horrible mismanagement. Do President Biden and Vice President Harris care about communities, immigrants, and controlling the border?”
“I can’t help but think that the reason they have the problem is because they have an overflow of people in detainment. And they just have to do something with them. And so their normal operating procedure just got busted,” Cassidy told a Shreveport TV station.
What’s even more repulsive about Cassidy’s grandstanding is that he apparently thinks it will negate the ill feelings in the Trump camp following his impeachment vote last January. He should know Trump better than that.
Fifth District U.S. Rep Julia Letlow was just as indignant, adding, “I am deeply troubled by the numerous reports of immigration detainees being released… I am outraged that neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security notified my office of these releases and neglected to inform other relevant federal, state, and local officials.”
Yes, they’re all here illegally – just like the ones who pick your fruit and vegetables and do your yard work and perform roofing and carpentry work – jobs that would not be available to them if there wasn’t someone to hire them. Like drugs, if there wasn’t a market, there wouldn’t be a supply. Nothing like a little hypocrisy to keep the political pot boiling.
The surge at the Shreveport depot caused volunteer advocates for migrants to scramble to get them on their way by bus and airplane to their sponsors across the U.S.
Frances Kelley with Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention says those sponsors are on the migrants’ paperwork. They are usually relatives, but they may also be friends or immigration organizations.
Kelley said the vast majority of the released detainees have claimed asylum. But they are not staying in the Shreveport area, despite Johnson’s hysterics.
Kelley says her group and others have filed a civil rights complaint against ICE for breaking their transportation standards.
“They’re supposed to provide transportation to a public transportation hub for free. And they’re supposed to allow all of the immigrants who are leaving detention to talk to their families before they get out in order to arrange transport to the address that they’re supposed to go,” Kelley said.
But, she added, “In most cases we’re actually picking them up directly from the detention centers because ICE is not providing the transportation that they’re supposed to provide. In many cases they’re requiring the families to pay taxis up to $600 to leave from the detention centers.”
Then there’s State Rep. VALERIE HODGES of Denham Springs. She wrote a bill targeting immigrants and has been an outspoken critic of illegal immigration. Yet, when her husband purchased two flood-damaged rent houses in my neighborhood, who do you suppose he hired to perform the renovation?
But for the worst example of blatant denial of human rights and political grandstanding, one would have to look to our neighbor to the west and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Ass-clown Abbott issued an executive order allowing Texas authorities to stop and even confiscate the vehicles of anyone providing free transportation to released detainees – precisely what the Louisiana and Mississippi volunteers LouisianaVoice has been writing about this week have been doing.
Abbott’s action was something like what Donald Trump might have come up with had he had the ability to put two cognitive thoughts together. Frankly, I’m surprised that Steven Miller didn’t put that bug in Trump’s ear.
At least Federal Judge Kathleen Cardone, a George W. Bush appointee, recognized Abbott’s ploy for what it was – political opportunism – and BLOCKED his executive order after the Biden administration FILED SUIT against Abbott on the claim that the order, a first-cousin to the widely-abused asset seizure law, was “contrary to federal law and cannot be enforced.”
And yes, again, they entered illegally instead of coming through the processing centers the way they were supposed to. But you can blame the former guy for bottling up the system, making it virtually impossible to come into the country legally. But where is it written that we must treat them as something less than human?
Letlow, Johnson and Cassidy, perhaps you would care to volunteer your time, your automobiles, your money, to help these individuals get where they are trying to go, by attempting to help people less fortunate, the same way LA-AID has, quietly and without fanfare.
Or at least, refrain from using these people for political posturing and fund-raising.
It might make you feel a lot better about yourselves if, rather than standing around pointing fingers and begging for political contributions, you would do something constructive for a change. Somehow, what you’re doing and saying is just damned tacky and it smells bad.
And it certainly wouldn’t hurt for the U.S. attorneys in the appropriate federal jurisdictions to initiate an investigation into these sordid practices that prey on the most vulnerable. The fact that the victims are not U.S. citizens has little bearing on the shameful fact that it’s profiteering at its worst that drives such illegal activity – not unlike price-gouging for water, gasoline and other basic human needs in times of hurricanes and other catastrophes, and we know how angry that makes us.
So, where’s the outrage now?
Louisiana Voice 
Keep on exposing these characters for what they are – the worst example of humanity. I keep waiting for this ongoing blood-sucking practice to reach mainstream news. Perhaps the description ‘immigrant’ (look back at almost all of our ancestors) has reached the same connotation as ‘criminal,’ thanks to the rantings of an orange creature, and it’s a risky story for most to air.
The thing that angers me most about Johnson, Cassidy, Letlow, [and John Neely Kennedy] is this: They are all very intelligent, very well-educated people who, if they are not, certainly should be very well-informed, i. e., know the truth. Yet, rather than do a true public service by attempting to convey the truth to their constituents, they take them for fools and simply cater to whatever the polls say they believe without regard for facts or the truth – They do this for purely political reasons with NO regard for what is right and what should be done to keep our country sound by true public service.
Abbott, DeSantis, and our own Jeff Landry are also well-educated, but they fail to exhibit intelligence (on purpose, perhaps) and are absolutely blatant in their pandering to ridiculous beliefs while subjugating themselves entirely to a certain wing of their party. In the case of COVID, in particular, their actions disregard even the value of the human lives of their own uninformed citizens. I think we know where they all come down on immigration – and the true hypocrisy it represents.
This whole thing is disgusting. If the U. S. Attorneys don’t care about these detainees, they should at least care about the way federal regulations are being flaunted by those detaining/releasing them under federal contracts.
It’s gotten to be so disgusting how anytime there’s any news involving illegal migrants no matter how minor, which is like all the time these days, these right-wing politicians really foam at the mouth. I could at least respect their positions if they’d just dispassionately make factual arguments for border security, but it’s almost never like that anymore. It’s almost always demagoguing, pandering, inflammatory xenophobic vitriole meant to incite. The actions of neofascists like Tex Abbott really should offend basic decency.
Agree with Mr. Winham. Yes, they are all educated. They all proclaim to be Christians. They are cowards and never tell the truth, Grisham’s “The Reckoning” quoting Lord Granger, head of the Resistance. They ignore Rule 9(??) of the Commandments, thou shall not “bear false witness'(lie). Recommend reading Toland’s “Adolph Hitler” chapter on “An Unguarded Hour” and to understand Tucker Carlson’s visit with the Hungarian Authoritarian, read Wilhelm Hoettl, The Secret Front, chapter on “The Tragedy of Hungary. And of course to understand the Hate/Egomania read over and over “Mein Kempt”? I am a follower of Yogi Berra logic” it aint over till its over, so we must keep learning and keep loving (and hopefully avoid another “holocaust-my opinion re covid and the propaganda by the fake Christians versus my opinion that they simply do not give a shit about anyone except themselves-whew) ron thompson