What is the meaning of the phrase: "Were it not for the Emigration, I would have been a man from the Ansar"?

His saying, "Were it not for the Hijrah, I would have been a man from the Ansar," is intended to win over the Ansar and praise them, implying that were it not for the impediment of the Hijrah, he would have ascribed himself to Medina. It could also be because he had maternal relatives among them, and he wished to ascribe himself to them through this kinship, were it not for the Hijrah. The intent is that were it not for the fact that the affiliation to the Hijrah is a religious affiliation that cannot be abandoned, he would have ascribed himself to their abode.