Migrants are arriving in NJ. Can Gov. Phil Murphy navigate the political divide? | Kelly

This is what the migrant crisis has done to us:

The governor of New Jersey has written to 23 bus lines in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Iowa and Ohio, asking them to tell officials here when they plan to drop undocumented migrants in his state.

Actually, depicting Gov. Phil Murphy’s “to whom it may concern” letter on Jan. 8 as some sort of official request is inaccurate.

This is begging, pure and simple.

Maybe Murphy will get an answer from the likes of Roadrunner Charters in Hurst, Texas, or the Coastal Crew bus company in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Maybe not.

“We appreciate your anticipated cooperation in providing this information to help ensure the well-being and safety of your passengers,” Murphy wrote, requesting that bus companies call or email the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management “at least 32 hours before the anticipated date and time of arrival.”

Murphy is also calling on the bus companies to divulge the number of "single adults traveling alone," as well as families and children.

It’s not even clear whether Murphy has the legal muscle to demand such information, even though his letter included this vague warning: “In addition to requesting this information, we reserve all rights to take appropriate action against any person in violation of any applicable laws.”

Interstate travel is generally regulated by the federal government. If a bus full of seniors or members of a high school basketball team — even from a foreign nation — wants to drive up the turnpike and stop in Hackensack, the driver is not required to call Trenton.

The good news is that Murphy is not alone in his plea for help from the bus companies contracted by such Republican-led states as Texas and Louisiana to carry migrants to northern communities run by Democrats. Two days after Christmas, New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued an “executive order,” demanding that migrant bus drivers give a 32-hour notice to city officials and arrive only between 8:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays.

Days later, it was clear that Adams' “executive order” had all the power of a Bronx cheer — Texas style. Instead of adhering to Adams’ demand, drivers of buses with migrants simply dropped their passengers at the train station in Secaucus or other train stations in Fanwood, Edison and Trenton. The plan, which initially involved 10 buses from Texas carrying about 400 migrants in the first wave, was to leave the migrants in New Jersey and hope they would jump on a train to New York City.

Hope springs eternal, doesn't it? As I said, this is what the migrant crisis has done to the world’s richest and most technologically advanced nation on the planet. America is now at the mercy of bus drivers transporting people who are carrying their personal belongings in plastic bags. We hope they catch the correct commuter train to New York City. After that, who knows what happens?

The videos of forlorn migrants trudging through the Secaucus train station only a few days after Christmas were heartbreaking. But the scenes were also a reminder of how pathetic our immigration system has become. Not only had these people walked through most of Mexico — and beyond — they were now being left at a train station on the edge of the Meadowlands. Each received a white towel and was told to get on the next train bound for Manhattan.

Welcome to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

What Murphy and, to some degree, Adams are now surely realizing is that they are trying to navigate an uncharted political and legal landscape. There are no guides for this, no references to history that can be helpful.

New Jersey has suddenly become a weird 21st-century version of Ellis Island. Only the Garden State is no island. And there are no customs agents to keep track of who arrives on the latest bus. Consider this an unregulated free-for-all. In other words, a mess that most politicians hope will go away or disappear from view when the next Taylor Swift video dominates the TV news.

And consider something else: America had it coming.

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America's political poker game with immigration

For decades, Democrats and Republicans alike have turned immigration into a political poker game. Democrats are betting that they earn votes with progressives and Latinos by not cracking down on undocumented immigration. Republicans are betting they win their share of votes from conservatives and moderates by calling for a crackdown.

What both sides are reluctant to admit is that most migrants end up working in the lowest-paying, most menial jobs that far too many Americans refuse. That team of laborers who just re-roofed your home in Ridgewood, New Jersey, probably entered America by crossing the Rio Grande last year. The same is probably true of the landscapers who cut grass in Wayne, New Jersey, the maids in local hotels and the dishwashers in the kitchens of your favorite bistro.

That’s just a simplistic way of describing the unresolved chaos. But most Americans get the idea — and the hypocrisy of it all.

The price is that we have a southern border that is as porous as a window without a screen.

Most of us secretly welcome the low-paid labor. And our good-natured hearts extend to the children and single mothers escaping gang violence in Latin America.

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But we have no real clue how many criminals are also sneaking in, what quantities of drugs are being smuggled across the border or whether terrorist operatives from Hamas and ISIS have also managed to join the crowd. Each of the 19 al-Qaida hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks slipped into America through loopholes in our visa system. Most of those loopholes have been closed. But far too many immigration loopholes remain — to the point that the path toward political asylum is now something of a liars' game of fakery.

Raising such concerns has caused immigration critics to be unfairly branded as racists.  At the same time, raising concerns for the well-being of children and others escaping the brutality of governments in Venezuela and Cuba causes immigration advocates to be branded as naïve progressives.

This debate has waged for most of the past four decades — with no solution in sight.

Can Phil Murphy be part of a solution?

This brings us back to Murphy and his letter.

Several years ago, Murphy declared New Jersey to be a “sanctuary state” — meaning that it would be open to undocumented immigrants.

It was a nice ideal on Murphy’s part. It was naïve, for sure. But it was also kind in many ways, not to mention a political risk that many Democrats have avoided in the face of the immigration backlash that was amplified by former President Donald Trump.

But now Murphy has a chance to play a role in finding a solution. Now that his state has come face to face with the flood of undocumented migrants, he has a chance to call for solutions that work not only for the overwhelmed communities of Texas and other states along the southern border but also for New York and New Jersey.

Simply put, Murphy has a chance to be a real leader here, not just another panderer to progressives. Of course, he has other worries. His wife, Tammy, is running for the U.S. Senate. If Murphy takes a clear-eyed stand on immigration, how will it affect his wife's campaign?

Why not call on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to join Murphy in an immigration summit in Trenton? Or with President Joe Biden at the White House? 

Both sides need to start talking — meaningfully.

Writing letters to bus companies is not a solution.

It’s just another Band-Aid.

Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, as well as the author of three critically acclaimed nonfiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in the Northeast, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kellym@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Migrant crisis in NJ: Buses arriving, can Phil Murphy respond?