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They were (ostensibly, this is dependent on honest reporting) asked if they wanted to go to Massachusetts, not Martha's Vineyard. Would you consider it honest if I asked an immigrant if they wanted a flight to the United States and I dropped them off in Soldotna, Alaska?
Politically, perhaps, although if we had that conversation we'd likely recycle tired talking points about how the United States has always been a nation of immigrants. The US population share of immigrants is higher than it was in the 80s, but on par with the early 20th/late 19th century.
From a humanitarian perspective, I strongly disagree that they are equivalent.
How is Martha's Vineyard remotely comparable? The migrants were bussed out of there within 24 hours and it's only a couple hours from Boston.
You're right, getting here in the first place is infinitely more expensive and dangerous than being transported from a red state to a blue state.
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Most people consider Alaska to be a worse place to live than the median locality in the US, thats why people have to paid to move there.
By contrast MV is a luxury locality, where the vast majority of people would be overjoyed to live.
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