Almost 50 illegal immigrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will qualify for visas to stay in the US because their treatment was criminal, a Texas sheriff has said.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar submitted documents on Thursday suggesting the 48 migrants were victims of a crime, making them eligible for a non-immigrant ‘U-visa’ that will allow them to stay in the US until any criminal proceedings are completed.
Salazar, a Democrat whose county encompasses San Antonio, says the DeSantis flight broke the law by lying to the Venezuelan migrants about their destination and the support they could expect to receive on arriving.
The migrants are believed to have been told they’d be taken to Boston, before being flown to the ritzy island off Cape Cod on September 14 instead.
‘We have submitted documentation through the federal system to ensure the migrants’ availability as witnesses during the investigation,’ Salazar said in a statement.
Bexar County Sheriff launched an investigation into DeSantis’s scheme last month and submitted documents on Thursday characterizing them as victims of a crime
The migrants were flown from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts in September as part of a stunt organized by the Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Under the direction of DeSantis the state of Florida paid for two flights to take them from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard.
DeSantis’s objective was to draw attention to an influx of immigrants to southern states and an alleged hypocrisy of those like Massachusetts that pride themselves on being ‘sanctuary states’.
DeSantis and other GOP governors say many Democrat leaders of sanctuary states have little understanding of how badly the ongoing influx of illegal immigrants is affecting towns and cities along the southern border.
‘The minute even a small fraction of what those border towns deal with every day is brought to their front door, they all of a sudden go berserk,’ said DeSantis in September.
‘It shows you their virtue signaling is a fraud,’ he added.
The Venezuelan migrants were flown by DeSantis to Martha’s Vineyard. They will now be eligible for U-visa, which could eventually turn into green cards
Florida governor Ron DeSantis oversaw two flights from San Antonio to transport the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard
Rachel Self is an attorney working with the migrants.
She told radio station WGBH that the move by Salazar was intended to enable the immigrants to acquire visas, which are reserved for victims or witnesses of crime.
Getting a certification for a ‘U-visa’ can often take as long as a year so it’s unusual that Salazar was able to finalize the process so soon.
A U-visa holder becomes eligible to apply for a green card after holding it for three years.
Members of a group of nearly 50 migrants from Venezuela who were flown to the island of Martha’s Vineyard off Cape Cod 14 September look at mobile phones at the parish house at St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown
Volunteers prepare food for immigrants outside St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Edgartown near Martha’s Vineyard
This move by the Bexar County Sheriff to assist the migrants comes weeks after he brought an investigation into DeSantis’s scheme.
No charges have yet been filed.
‘Based upon the claims of migrants being transported from Bexar County under false pretenses, we are investigating this case as possible Unlawful Restraint,’ Salazar said in the statement.
‘We have suspects identified, however at this point in the investigation, we are not at liberty to release those names publicly or confirm any identities.’
Salazar may be referring to 43-year-old former military spy Perla Huerta.
Huerta was said to have been spotted in the crowd helping to load mostly Venezuelan migrants on to a plane at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio last month.
Migrants told the New York Times Huerta approached them in San Antonio with the proposition of flying north to Martha’s Vineyard where jobs, shelter and legal representation would be available.
According to the Times, she was sent to Texas in order to convince the migrants to head north.
‘We are actively working with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office and the attorneys representing the migrants,’ Salazar said in the statement.
‘The investigation remains ongoing and we will release any updates as available.’
Perla Huerta, 43, was spotted in the crowd helping to load mostly Venezuelans migrants on to a plane at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio last month before she was outed as a conduit for the Florida governor