Texas sheriff launches probe into Florida's flying of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard

A Texas county sheriff is launching a criminal investigation into Florida’s flights carrying dozens of migrants last week from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said on Monday during a news conference that around 50 migrants were “lured under false pretenses” on the streets of San Antonio, put on a plane, and left “stranded unceremoniously in Martha’s Vineyard… for nothing other than a photo op.”

Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took credit for two planes full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, a wealthy vacation island in Massachusetts. A spokesperson for DeSantis said that the migrants were “more than willing to leave Bexar County after being abandoned.”

"Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected," DeSantis' communications director, Taryn Fenske, said in an emailed statement.

However, several attorneys for the migrants that landed in Martha’s Vineyard said the migrants had received brochures that were “highly misleading” and were “used to entice [their] clients to travel under the guide that [resettlement] support was available to them.”

The brochure has a photo of what seems to be a road sign reading “Massachusetts Welcomes You,” according to pictures shared by a legal group representing many of the cases.

One migrant who was flown to Martha’s Vineyard told Reuters that they were recruited outside of a migrant resource center in San Antonio and handed the brochure that promised housing, economic support for 90 days, help to get work permits, and English lessons.

The migrant was surprised when their flight landed on an island that is known as a summer retreat for wealthy Americans and there was no help waiting for them

Additionally, the brochure lists the number of the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, but the agency said it did not print the brochures or was aware of them.

.@JuddLegum obtained a copy of the brochure that @GovRonDeSantis used to lure migrants to board planes to Martha’s Vineyard. He had pamphlets made up with fake information about nonexistent services. This makes their entire trip not voluntary, but coerced, which is criminal. pic.twitter.com/LZOZq90jVr

— Andrew Wortman 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸 (@AmoneyResists) September 19, 2022

“I believe people need to be held accountable for it to the extent possible,” Salazar added. “At this point, I’m not able to definitively say here’s the statute that they broke, either federal, state, or local, but what I can tell you is it’s wrong. Just from a human rights perspective, what was done to these folks is wrong.”

"What infuriates me most about this case is that we have 48 people who are already on hard times," Salazar continued. "I believe they were preyed upon."