When 50 illegal immigrants showed up in Martha's Vineyard and disrupted the elite bubble that is the island home to the Obamas, the supposedly "sanctuary" community quickly sent the illegals packing. So much for "all are welcome," as the community's signs declared before their resolve to inclusivity was challenged by a dose of border crisis reality.
But that wasn't the only double standard on display.
These illegal immigrants, with little known about them beyond their countries of origin, certainly did not have their official CDC vaccine cards with them to prove they were fully vaccinated and boosted. Yet they were still taken to a military installation where a DoD vaccine mandate has been in effect since August 25, 2021.
According to The Boston Herald:
Migrants shipped from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard this week were moved Friday to a military base on Cape Cod, which Gov. Charlie Baker said is better equipped to meet their housing, food and basic needs.
Baker said the move to a temporary shelter at Joint Base Cape Cod will be voluntary for the Venezuelan immigrants who were flown to the island community Wednesday on the orders of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The DoD vaccine mandate — which applies to the service members at Joint Base Cape Cod — has had devastating effects on military readiness by sidelining service members from training or otherwise working with their colleagues, even leading to the dismissal of thousands of otherwise qualified service members. It's one of several failures under Biden's tenure as commander in chief that has seen the U.S. military miss recruitment and retention goals.
Despite President Biden's declaration on 60 Minutes over the weekend that the COVID-19 pandemic is over — a virus Biden previously declared "independence" from in July 2021 — the DoD led by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is continuing to punish service members who choose not to get vaccinated.
As Katie reported earlier this week:
Some 40,000 National Guard and 22,000 Reserve soldiers who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are no longer allowed to participate in their military duties, also effectively cutting them off from some of their military benefits, Army officials announced Friday.
"Soldiers who refuse the vaccination order without an approved or pending exemption request are subject to adverse administrative actions, including flags, bars to service, and official reprimands," an Army spokesperson said in a statement.
The move comes in the midst of the annual training season, during which part-time soldiers are often ordered to serve from two weeks to a month with their units for summer training exercises. Those training events are usually critical for soldiers to sharpen their military skills and for unit commanders to ensure their formations are ready to deploy if needed.
There's little doubt that at least some of those tens of thousands of guardsmen and reservists who are now being excluded from their training, cut off from benefits, and facing a forced departure from military service are among those serving in the Massachusetts National Guard.
Speaking with Townhall, Former Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Amber Smith noted that the United States is "in the middle of a very serious military recruitment and retention crisis that could have lasting national security implications — meanwhile, DoD is playing political games with the careers of tens of thousands of service members who refuse to take the COVID vaccine."
Those who have chosen not to get vaccinated have "been harassed, intimidated, lost training, benefits, career advancement and more," Smith explained. "Yet 125 Massachusetts National Guard members were tasked with transporting and caring for illegal immigrants — likely not vaccinated — and housing them on a federal military installation, where everyone is required to be vaccinated by DoD's own mandate," Smith continued of the response to illegal immigrants arriving on Martha's Vineyard. "Not exactly the best message to be sending the troops and even more so, to future recruits," Smith added.
While those guardsmen and other service members in Massachusetts and across the country are being shunned and treated as second-tier citizens due to their decision not to get vaccinated, they're watching illegal immigrants — read: criminals — get escorted onto a military base. There, the unlawful inhabitants are receiving housing along with better treatment than U.S. service members who are willing to die for our country.
The message being sent with the move of illegal immigrants to a base such as JBCC: If you're an illegal immigrant whose first act on U.S. soil was to break our laws, we'll put you up in military housing, feed you, and offer you services. But if you're an American soldier who swore an oath to sacrifice your life for our country but chose not to get vaccinated, you will be removed from duty, denied benefits of your service, and sent packing.