A vocal immigration activist has promised to boycott Delta Air Lines because it flies undocumented immigrants from one state to another. Is she going to boycott all US carriers? Let’s explore her complaints because she does have a huge following and the issue is at the heart of US politics.
Delta Air Lines Faces Boycott From Immigration Activists
Immigration policy is a complicated and messy endeavor in the United States and has been for decades. I’m not going to solve the immigration problem here and I’m not going to drone on about my own thoughts on it, beyond acknowledging that 1.) the system is broken, 2.) US borders should be secure, and 3.) comprehensive immigration reform should be something that all can agree on, including a robust guest worker program for both skilled and unskilled labor.
You have some on the left who suggest that open borders are not a problem and you have some on the right who suggest that borders should be sealed and the US needs no immigrant labor (sometimes while hiring illegal labor themselves). Those are the extremes, but it seems to me that most Americans just want a combination of border security along with a sustainable way to address labor shortages with immigrant labor (i.e. we like our cheap prices for fruits and vegetables).
Within the US there is a “red state versus blue state” battle over what do with illegal aliens who pour across the US Southern border, with some border states putting many of these folks on busses or airplanes to “blue” states and essentially dumping them there.
From my vantage point, it seems this is a move that many on the right tend to applaud, reasoning that “sanctuary cities” should welcome the influx of immigration. But that is not what occurred, which leads us to the story today and how it relates to Delta Air Lines.
A figure on the right (I am not sure how to properly label her) took to Twitter/X to complain that her Delta flight from Phoenix (PHX) to New York (JFK) was full of illegal immigrants who had just been released from a detention center (she judged this based upon the bags they were carrying, that were issued by the US government). She wondered who was paying for these people to be “shipped” to New York and vowed to boycott Delta when a gate agent told her, “What does it matter, they’re humans too.”
My @Delta flight from Phoenix appears to be flying migrants who crossed the border and are being shipped to New York
When I asked a Delta representative if this was the case, his response was “What does it matter, they’re humans too”
What is happening???? pic.twitter.com/zew340d6u2
— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) December 19, 2023
Even Rep. Lauren “Handjob” Boebert (R – CO) decided to weigh in:
Please do something. There has to be some sort of pressure that can be placed on these airlines.
— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) December 19, 2023
Immigration is big deal and I don’t pretend to have the perfect solution. But every day, and especially as we approach the holiday season, I think it is important to remember, as the Delta agent stated, that every immigrant is a human being. That does not necessarily mean that illegal aliens should be allowed to remain in the country illegally, but these people are not chattel to be “shipped” like an Amazon parcel.
I smell the opportunistic “outrage machine” rather than genuine anger here because it seems like the same “serves them right” crowd who mock the indignation of blue state governors expressing reservations over immigration dumping from red states are now taking a contrary view. Why? Simply to generate outrage, which of course does not solve the very real problem.
Delta now finds itself in the middle of a debate, but transporting migrants is hardly exclusive to Delta. Will other US carriers face a similar boycott? Is meaningful immigration reform possible in this country?
CONCLUSION
Concern over illegal immigration is valid. So is concern over the treatment of these undocumented migrants. This is one issue that I wish we could come to terms with as a nation because there is great middle ground. But in our toxic political culture, the outrage machine drives donations and votes, making our system all the more dysfunctional. Now Delta finds itself in the middle of it, as if it goes out to Home Depot and picks up illegals for it flights to New York…
The best part of this article was “Lauren “handjob” Bobert”.
Crude, but well done.
Suddenly, I feel the urge to go to Starbucks, and I’ve got plenty of time!
Seriously, this is nothing more than a drive-by spraying by the rage machine.
Interestingly enough, I predict in 2-3 years that the NYC economy is going to boom as a result of migrants. Strong availability of laborers and service workers is going to lead to stronger overall growth on multiple levels. I’m already noticing a much better level of service in New York at hotels and restaurants. A contrast to the dire shortage of service staff prior. Bring em in!
If Biden is re-elected and mass invasion…I mean…mass migration continues unabated, NYC will be staring down the barrel of the largest municipal bankruptcy in history.
I guess we will see. As Matthew so well stated, if the two sides refuse to negotiate a compromise the end result will be will need to be created with vision. I am predicting something different than you. The Governor is also involved and looking at ways to spread the migrants out within New York State and growing economies in other areas in need of workers. Seems like solutions are in the process. And it may end up being a win for the entire state over time.
I also live in NYC – I fear that our taxes won’t be able to cover the legally mandated housing requirement, and our useless mayor is off doing god knows what. We’re already seeing service cuts to key city services.
Did you read that the WFP is asking all NY state and city candidates to support raising $40 billion in new taxes on the rich?
The lack of awareness of how NY demographics have changed is mind blowing.
It also keeps unions that enable horrible and lazy workers from forming.
>Interestingly enough, I predict in 2-3 years that the NYC economy is going to boom as a result of migrants
Yeah, but it won’t be the kind of boom you’re looking for. It’ll be the Malmö kind of boom (Matthew simply LOVES Malmö for literally no reason other than to virtue signal).
The tweets embedded in this post made me feel unsafe on too many levels to count. Please post a sensitive content warning next time.
I think it’s wonderful these law breakers are able to experience the worlds best and most profitable airline.
I would rate no US airline in the top ten of world’s best airline.
This immigration problem is not due to the system being “broken”. It’s due to the current laws not being enforced. It is broken in that we mistakenly allow “anchor babies” and make immigration extremely difficult for people trying to do it legally.
The country was built on “anchor babies” since the European invasions and sustained occupations of the Americas. But give it to immigrants and their descendants to become the next in line to be against additional immigration. A story older than written history and not peculiarly American at that.
Well while I’d prefer DL to be ferrying them to MEX or GUA, this won’t be happening under the current regime. So, I’ll settle for sanctuary cities, where the people are oh-so inclusive and will happily take these folks into their homes. No matter what thing has kept them from eligibility to apply for a green card legally. Everupme in New York, Chicago, etc can celebrate diversity together and leave those evil Texans to themselves.
Like Lauren Boebert (by far, my favorite congressional representative), the complainant is cute but dumb.
This is just dumb… it’s not like Delta is flying the illegals into the US. They already made it across our pathetic border.
Maybe she should be lobbying Delta to unilaterally deport them.
The Delta gate agent did not answer well.
(She wondered who was paying for these people to be “shipped” to New York and vowed to boycott Delta when a gate agent told her, “What does it matter, they’re humans too.”)
A better response might have been:
Activist: Was is paying for these people to be “shipped” to New York?
Delta: Their ticket doesn’t make it clear and even if it is, I have to keep all credit card information confidential.
I was seated next to Ms. St Clair once on a Southwest plane. She was holding her phone so that everyone around could see her Twitter account, and talking loudly about her “work” on the phone prior to takeoff… but was otherwise not bad company, as reprehensible as I find her politics.
St Clair was once an ambassador for Turning Point USA ,Charlie Kirks right wing youth group. TPUSA kicked her out for her association with white nationalists and other anti-semitic groups. This is from TPUSA. She is now all about self-promotion.
Never heard of her and with no intention of looking at her profile I have no idea what side of the aisle she’s in, whether she’s on the left complaining about certain states, i.e. Texas and Florida ship these migrants to sanctuary cities or whether she’s on the right complaining about all the illegal immigrants being present in the country
Just curious as to what ID they show to board…..
Immigrants looking for work received a USCIS card. What an airline probably would require is the documentation of the originating country.
So many hateful comments on here. I’m always surprised that there so many Republicans on this site. People who travel the world are usually a lot more open minded.
In my neighborhood in NYC, there are a couple of cheap hotels housing migrants. There has been no increase in crime, no spreading of diseases, no harm to the neighborhood. I doubt most people in the neighborhood even realize they are here.
I also happen to have several friends who are undocumented. They are all warm, good-hearted, generous, very hard working guys who just want to make a better life for themselves and their families. I’ll take them over angry right wingers any day.
People who travel who have eyes, ears, and a brain can see what areas are safe and who causes all the problems. We can see it’s not the people of European heritage in Mexico who commit the crime and violence. It’s not native Dutch who turn Amsterdam into a cesspool. It’s not the White Afrikaners who turned South America into the HIV capital of the world where 14% of the population is infected or the violence capital. It’s not Chinese who make Jamaica unsafe outside the resorts.
Traveling can show us what life is like in Europe and how much more peaceful when certain groups commonly found in the Bronx or Chicago are missing. Even with other groups like the Turks and Moroccans in Amsterdam, it is many times better than with those in LA, Yonkers, or Atlanta.
Of course freedom supporting people like travel. It’s nice to get away from the cesspool American cities have become since the early 1960s.
Okay Dogas it must be my night to call you the troll racist you are. Please hook up with st Clair and you can enjoy a Greek chorus holiday.
Guns, criminalized drugs, the vast prisons-as-schools-for-criminals industry, more extreme economic inequality, and a long history of government-supported racism and state-sponsored domestic brutality by state-backed actors in living memory make America rather different than “safe Europe”.
New immigrants to high income countries tend to commit less crime and less violent crime domestically within high-income countries than people who are born in a country and feel like they got the wrong end of the stick and are treated like second class citizens or worse.
Maybe try to step a bit further away from characterizing people based on what you perceive their party or political leaning is?
I voted Republican for the majority of my life, and I also lived in the US illegally as a child. I know a number of gay people who tend more to the right than I do. Many people are a blend of beliefs not well represented by a single party or red/blue designation.
I think the polar extremes of views on literally any topic presented on this site shows pretty clearly the those who travel come from all parts of the political spectrum.
Actually, we all can’t agree on comprehensive immigration reform except for an end to all immigration except for indigenous Europeans wherever they live. A guest worker program is just companies selling out real Americans with cheaper workers. Big tech companies and even Tesla don’t need engineers from India or Peru. They just pretend there aren’t tens of millions of unemployed or underemployed workers here who could do the job for a little bit more money. Unless it’s indigenous Europeans, no to a guest worker program.
The elected representatives of the shareholding class in the US have decided that South and East Asian techies are what the country and companies needs for them to maximize the return on capital and boost senior management income in the US.
Capitalism has consequences, and people are market participants who need to learn to compete rather than to be so insecure as to want to hide behind protectionism and fear-mongering about the “other”.
Sieg Heil! (Gives associated salute).
At least John Dogas is candid about being a white supremacist, instead of cloaking it in language about laws and politics.
He’s got down pat the David Duke talking points. 30+ years ago, David Duke’s talking points had very little traction nationally. Sadly, David Duke’s views seem to have more of an audience and a bigger megaphone nowadays than they used to have.
Remember when tabloid newspapers got a lot of attention but had little credibility and limited uptake? Nowadays , “social media” makes those tabloids look like third rate players for attention who couldn’t get the message out as loudly and widely.
I saw a video on TikTok that hinted Delta was giving away free First Class upgrades if you claimed to be undocumented. Like just go up to the counter and say “I’m undocumented” and they will roll out the red carpet for you and upgrade you. If you’ve paid for First Class, too bad. You are now being kicked off the flight because DHS wants to welcome undocumented people instead. Because they hate America so much.
Does anyone actually believe that kind of nonsense?
Also, does this work for international flights with Delta One? Asking for a friend…
Would not surprise me if that is coming from Russian disinformation accounts, but who knows…
What I find really interesting is that those on the right seem to forget their support for the free market when it comes to facing more competition for jobs and housing, and that those on the left happily undermine the socioeconomic position of the working class which they claim to support (new immigrants will always gravitate to lower-skilled work and be prepared to accept poorer remuneration and working conditions than local people on that end of the market). Tribalism has well and truly eclipsed any ideological considerations.
They shouldn’t be here. They should be dumped on the Mexican side like the garbage that they are.
Why such a horrible attitude concerning these people? They are still people and the illegals I know are simply trying to survive and provide for their families like most of us are.
Let me count the ways:
Firstly, I don’t get the “they’re people” argument. So what if they’re people? Ted Bundy was a person. That doesn’t make them inherently good or deserving of respect.
Secondly, they are here to mooch off of our scumbag government, who pays to house, transport, feed, and educate their mongrel children. Their presence is parasitical, with the American people gaining nothing but a bill.
We’re all trying to survive. Let them do it in their own countries.
I find it pretty enlightening that the comment specifically mentions Mexico. The vast majority of those undocumented immigrants are from Central America and wouldn’t have entered Mexican territory had it not been for the tendency of the US government to support migrants. Instead of calling for those people to try to survive ‘in their own countries’, your original comment actually advocated lumping another country with them…I wonder why!
I don’t care where they go, so long as it’s not here.
If you were in their shoes, you would perhaps be doing what they do to support themselves and their family members.
I am always impressed by the hard working people who manage to remit money back to their family members whom they left behind. It involves sacrifice to take the risks involved and manage to make it work out economically without doing harm to anyone but those who are for whatever reason stuck competing with such people for work.
@GUW , to be totally fair, they also create additional demand for housing amd services such as health, education, and policing. But, whatever one thinks about immigration and its consequences, the hate against migrants themselves is just daft and doesn’t accomplish anything.
Sorry, that is an incomplete conclusion. Stick your head in a public school here in Texas. Overcrowded and with a multitude of “immigrants” who speak a polyglot of languages. Despite a 15 year old, non English speaking “migrant” having only a second grade education….he is kept in the grade comensurate with his age, not education level..to avoid “social trauma”. This brings down the entire class to that level. And yes they are not even paying school taxes as many do not have parents here. Teachers here are leaving in droves. “Humanity” has nothing to do with this massive tsunami of “people” flooding the system. BTW…Abbott busses only a fraction…the US Govt transports over 95% of all
One of the few times I’d read something from MK and compliment him! 😛
Yes, no matter what, they are humans and should be treated as such.
For these flights that the handjob lady is getting upset about…IT IS NOT NEW, and most US airlines do this!
The US has in the past (including during the Dumper years) paid for US airlines to transport immigrants to other cities – these are usually planned and the cities they are going to are expecting them. The US has used general flights (like the one in the article), and chartered planes to do this for many many years.
The right gets extremely upset with these flights calling them “ghost flights” (again, Dumper did it too), when it was typically flights of immigrant families with minors, or minors without family but being transported to a known relative. This has been going on since Bush at least.
Also what’s with that handjob jab Matthew? That’s not a very Christian thing to say. I bet your wife goes way farther than that when you’re not around to bore her.
Chi Hsuan,
Are you aware that you give off incel extremist vibes while playing the “not very Christian” card? Boebert’s extra-hands-on PDA has consequences.
Incel? Naw I get laid frequently. Extremist? Hardly an insult since old leftists like you call anyone who disagrees with them extremists,
Old leftist? ROTFLOL Your cluelessness is funny but not my idea of cute. If any Divine Brown types found your cluelessness and cash cute, that’s between you and them. Just don’t be a public rocket man — blue pill popping or otherwise — or support staff, as such PDAs can invite scrutiny and duly critical language that makes snowflakes uncomfortable.
I just assumed due to your dated references and barely coherent writing.
We need some control over WHOM we just let walk into our country!! We are the only country i the world sooo loose with our borders..Unless you are legal and try to enter then you mist go thru lots of hoops…
Really? Pose that statement to those in the EU or UK. They are dealing as well. It’s a global problem to anywhere accessible and successful. Meaning: No one is rushing to get into Russia or South Africa. It’s the price of success. Want the alternative?
South Africa has illegal immigrant issues too. And India has long been obsessed about migrants from Bangladesh despite giving birth to Bangladesh. Pakistan is obsessed about migrants from Afghanistan, and that is despite Pakistan’s exploitation of Afghans for its own power projection purposes from the beginning of Pakistan. Iran is obsessed about irregular migrants from Afghanistan. Jordanians, Lebanese and Egyptians are obsessed about irregular migrants from Israeli-occupied lands.
Just a couple of days ago I ran into a bunch of employed Afghan guys working like crazy and picking up the worst shifts. Most of them seemed to have come into Sweden as irregular migrants, with many of them probably categorized previously as unaccompanied minors at the time of getting into Sweden. They seem to be more likely to be working than a lot of those who came in via regular migration means.
Swedes got so upset at all those males coming into the country after the Syrian civil war hit that the country has since moved way to the right with even the socialists becoming anti-immigration. But they do so under color of “we want strict borders but not racism against those already in the country”. Of course that’s a country where in less than 4 decades they went from less than 3% of the people being of non-Nordic origins to something rather different due to immigration. It’s come with issues too, such as housing difficulties, school problems and crime problems; but those problems don’t exist in a vacuum.
Most Americans probably don’t realize this, but US foreign policy and US immigration policy has long been stuck in a narrow opinion corridor behind closed doors. And so regardless of who is at the top of an Administration, we get a lot of continuity in these areas no matter the supposed shift in some public rhetoric between Admins.
The Swedes were upset with the increase of crime and especially rape that came with the immigrants. Biden is ruining our country because he thinks every illegal alien is a vote for him and the devil.
The one question I have for the Open Border advocates…
How many? How many do you want/allow to come into the country? Ten million? Why just ten….One Hundred Million? That would be “humane” and wonderful for so many more…why not Two Hundred Million and really be compassionate? Three hundred?..now that would really be fair and equitable since there are already about 300 million living here now
What is your cut off..if there is one? Whyeven have one? Why leave anyone out…who wants in? Citizenship for all! Then again…at that point you no longer have a country.
Open border advocates? Not so many when you consider that few want a bunch of a Russian, Chinese, Indian and Iranian government stooges meddling in US elections with feet on the ground on top of the remote disinformation and influence-peddling campaigns that take place around elections.
@DFW_Scott I thought that those on the right believed that the free market can sort these things out, is there anything wrong with people coming over to rich countries until the prosperity gap closes down, or are you just trying to keep the price of labour artificially inflated so that you can benefit from the arbitrage (e.g. like the US companies manufacturing stuff in Cambodia and Myanmar)?
Answer please…..How many do you “asylum seekers” do you want to accept? Is there a limit? Or is your answer… “In the name of humanity and equity the U.S. will take in anybody and everybody on the planet earth who can make it here”? I will wait…
As a libertarian, I am in favour of fully open borders. It’s not the job of governments to prevent people from pursuing their dreams and/or living with the people they choose.
(Obviously I am not keen on spending taxpayer money on supporting immigrants, but you certainly haven’t asked about that as it looks like your main priority is ensuring US salaries remain artificially high through the government protecting local workers from competition)
…no borders…no country. Just a nanny state that will eventually run out of freebies, then Venezula will start looking good.
…still waiting on your number…how many? Everybody….OK then as of today that number is about 750 million people on the planet wanting to come to US…..btw your health care will dissapear first…. Humanity for all !!…at least for a while
Exactly, if it’s 750 million, so be it. If it’s two billion, no problem at all. They will stop coming once salaries fall and the arbitrage opportunity ends. I am obviously all for disappearing state-funded healthcare- I have had excellent service from medical professionals in Czechia, Colombia, Greece, Argentina and probably a few other places without having to pay the stupid prices charged in the USA.
Is she going to boycott Kroger for selling them food?