DeSantis, Abbott have long, personal histories with immigration

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A dozen migrants sat on folding chairs on the first floor of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The men were dressed in T-shirts and jeans, the women in patterned shirts with collars and skirts to their ankles. Each held a small backpack, containing all the possessions they brought to this country. Each looked exhausted. They spoke quietly in Spanish, surrounded by a yellow police barrier and the gloom and quiet of the bus terminal in late morning.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent these tired, poor, yearning people to New York City as political pawns. New York City can play that game, too. The city placed the gathering area for migrants beneath a mural of the Manhattan skyline. In the center of the mural stands the Statue of Liberty. She is tall. She is backlit, and glowing green.

DeSantis’ ancestors risked death to reach that statue. Abbott staked his early political career on the promises inscribed at the base of that statue. In their grim maneuvers to become the next president of the United States, both governors seem to have forgotten the promises on which that statue, and this nation, were built.

New York City hopes to remind them.

Pregnant and desperate

"Patria" is Latin for "homeland." When Luigia Colucci left Italy aboard a steamship called the Patria, in February 1917, her homeland was a place of starvation and death. The battles of World War I had destroyed most of Italy’s farmland. Armies had claimed its men.

German U-boats patrolled the Atlantic, looking to sink passenger ships like the Patria. German mines ringed many ports. People in Europe knew the risks. More than 150,000 people emigrated from Italy in 1914. Six years later, in 1920, more than 200,000 came to America.

It was dangerous to stay; it was even more dangerous to go.

The year that Luigia — Ron DeSantis' great-great-grandmother — boarded the Patria with her two daughters, only 18,000 Italians dared to make the trip.

Two factors may have compelled her to leave.

First, Luigia was eight months pregnant.

Second, demagogues like U.S. Sen. Benjamin “Pitchfork” Tillman, a Democrat, had been whipping up fears of immigrants from Asia and southern Europe. On Feb. 5, as Luigia sailed for New York, Tillman joined his colleagues in passing the Immigration Act of 1917, which imposed an English literacy test on all immigrants, among other provisions.

Luigia landed on Ellis Island on Feb. 21. She gave birth 17 days later to a boy who would become Ron DeSantis’ great-uncle, said Megan Smolenyak, formerly the lead genealogist for Ancestry.com.

Being illiterate in both Italian and English, Luigia would have failed any test imposed by the new immigration law. But the provisions didn’t take effect until May 1, 10 weeks after her arrival.

Despite the incredible luck of their timely arrival, it appears DeSantis’ ancestors weren’t so sure they wanted to become Americans at all.

Luigia waited until the last possible moment to emigrate. Her husband, Salvadore, first left Italy for the United States in 1902. Then he sailed back to Italy. In 1904, he returned to America. Twelve years later, in 1916, he was back in Italy. We know this because Luigia became pregnant that year with his son, Smolenyak said.

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This kind of nation-swapping is rare, said Smolenyak, who has worked as a consultant for the U.S. Army. Most immigrants to the United States stay put.

But in the family trees of Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and other politicians who stake their careers on stoking fears of immigrants, a different pattern arises. For many, their ancestors appear to have had no national loyalty whatsoever, Smolenyak said.

Instead, they spent years moving from country to country.

“You find they gamed the system,” said Smolenyak, who said she found no evidence that DeSantis’ great-great-grandfather’s moves between Italy and America were so strategic. “A very distinct pattern is many come from families that never had distinct national loyalties. You find them country shopping.”

Many people who voted for DeSantis, who did not return calls or emails seeking comment, say they support immigration that’s legal. Luigia’s story demonstrates a problem with that logic, Smolenyak said.

“You hear people say all the time, ‘My ancestors came here legally,’” said Smolenyak, who has performed genealogical research for “Who Do You Think You Are?” and other TV shows. “Well, if somebody says that, they’re either disingenuous or ignorant. Over 40% of Americans have at least one Ellis Island immigrant in their family. They didn’t have any paperwork. They just showed up.”

Abbott reverses course

The history of Greg Abbott’s family’s immigration to the United States is clouded by time. Given his name and fair complexion, it seems likely that Abbott has little or no connection to Native Americans or African Americans. That means his family probably sailed to the United States before any barriers to immigration existed.

Saying anything more definitive is currently impossible, Smolenyak said.

“They have the Abbott line going back to 1460? Oh, come on,” Smolenyak said as she searched Abbott’s family tree on Ancestry.com. “That could be accurate. But when you get that far back [in time], very few people know how to research those names reliably.”

Abbott’s time in politics demonstrates that early in his career, he understood the Statue of Liberty’s promise for a life of opportunity for immigrants.

George W. Bush, Abbott’s predecessor, actively courted Latino voters, both as governor of Texas and later as president. This strategy was driven by Karl Rove, viewed early in his career as Bush’s wunderkind strategist. Like many of his Republican peers, Rove understood that white people — the voting stalwarts of the Republican Party — would become a minority in the United States by around 2045. To remain viable, the party should diversify, Rove argued, expanding its tent to include Latino immigrants, many of whom share the party’s conservative views on abortion, religion and taxes.

It worked. In 2004 Bush won 44% of the Hispanic vote, a 10% increase over his performance four years before. Bush became the first president since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 whose party gained seats in the Senate in a midterm election.

As a young politician, Abbott followed Rove’s strategy to power. He fought to keep the DREAM Act, the 2001 law that allowed undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition to public universities. He used his power as Texas attorney general to crack down on scammers selling fake drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants, and blocked passage of anti-immigrant legislation.

“Governor Abbott used to say when he was attorney general that I don't care about the status of someone, whether or not they are a citizen or a permanent resident or have documents,” John Owens, who worked in the attorney general’s office for Abbott, told NPR.

Then came Donald Trump’s campaign for president, which he started with a press conference at Trump Tower in which he said of immigrants from Mexico, “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

Trump’s win in 2016 caused a sea change in Republican politics. Up-and-comers like Abbott realized they needed to switch tactics by appropriating the president’s racist language or risk losing power. By 2019, Abbott issued fundraising letters invoking the white supremacist “replacement theory,” warning donors: “Unless you and I want liberals to succeed in their plan to transform Texas — and our entire country — through illegal immigration, this is a message we MUST send.”

By the summer of 2022, Abbott’s transformation was complete. Announcing plans to ship migrants in buses to northern cities, his press release trolled New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Abbott's office did not return calls or emails seeking comment.

“In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city,” Abbott said.

At the bus terminal on Tuesday, no crisis was apparent. Police officers protected the migrants from nosy passersby. Volunteers and city workers stood behind folding tables, interviewing migrants to learn their needs for housing, food and medical care. Soon the migrants would be bused to homeless shelters, hospitals or other social services.

In the quiet shadows of an ugly bus station, New York City was busy keeping its promises.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: In NYC, migrants shipped from Texas and Florida find warm welcome