Dozens of migrants, who Governor Ron DeSantis sent to the island without notice, were initially as surprised as local officials but soon received an outpouring of support from the small community. They are now in Cape Cod.
Governor Ron DeSantis vowed on Friday to continue to use Florida taxpayer dollars to fund more stunts like the one his office orchestrated earlier in the week when it misled, then flew group of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard unannounced. The migrants are now staying at a military base on Cape Cod after being relocated to the mainland. Meanwhile the fallout and outrage over what DeSantis did, and how, continues to build. A prominent civil rights group in Massachusetts is now calling on state prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the matter, while pro bono immigration lawyers work to help the migrants navigate their sudden change in circumstances and meet their upcoming legal obligations.
When the migrants arrived on Martha’s Vineyard, unannounced, aboard two planes on Wednesday afternoon, it was initially not clear to local officials who had arranged the charter flights, which had apparently originated in Texas, with a stopover in Florida, before heading to the island. DeSantis’s office then took credit on Wednesday night.
About 50 people from Venezuela, Colombia, and other Latin American countries were aboard the planes, mostly men in their 20s and 30s, but also seven families, including four young children. One of the migrants told reporters that they had been staying in San Antonio after crossing the border before being informed by a “refugee organization” they could go north, they were told, to Boston. Others have detailed a range of false promises made to them by those who organized the flights, including guarantees of job opportunities, childcare, and immigration assistance.
The flights, which no one knew had the migrants aboard until they touched down, mark another escalation of the tactics started this year by Texas governor Greg Abbott and Arizona governor Doug Ducey, in which Republican-led states send large numbers of migrants to liberal-run cities far from the border — including Washington, D.C., Chicago, and New York — in an attempt to criticize the Biden administration’s immigration policies. DeSantis, it appears, now wants to get in on the act and grab some headlines for himself. Except this time, instead of sending people to a large city, he sent them to an island community of about 15,000 residents.
