Migrants sent by DeSantis to Martha’s Vineyard say they were told they were going to Boston and could quickly find work there

Volunteers mingle outside of St. Andrews Episcopal Church. Two planes of migrants from Venezuela arrived suddenly Wednesday night on Martha's Vineyard.

Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

• Migrants were told jobs were available in Boston and boarded a plane in Texas, NPR reported. 
• The plane instead went to Martha's Vineyard, as part of a political stunt by Florida's governor. 
• The legality of the move is coming under scrutiny. 

Migrants sent to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, by Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis to troll liberals said they thought they were going to Boston, NPR reported. 

NPR interviewed three of the migrants, were part of a group of 50 flown on two chartered planes from Texas to Martha's Vineyard.

The island, part of Massachusetts, is well-known as a vacation spot for wealthy liberals like Barack Obama and John Kerry, who own property there.

The migrants said, per NPR, that a woman they identified as "Perla" lured them from a shelter in San Antonio into boarding a plane with promises of expedited work permits in Boston. 

"She (Perla) offered us help. Help that never arrived," one migrant, named by the outlet as Andres, said. "Now we are here. We got on the plane with a vision of the future, of making it."

When asked why he had got on the plane with limited information, he said: "Look, when you have no money and someone offers help, well, it means a lot."

According to reports, migrants did not know where they were when they disembarked the planes, and local authorities had not been given any warning of the arrival of the migrants.

DeSantis appeared to hope to spread chaos with the migrant flights, issuing statements via spokespeople saying that the burden of caring for migrants was the just desserts for Democratic areas which favor softer border policies.

Instead, the locals rallied to provide them with shelter, food and medical care on arrival. 

The legality of the stunt is coming under scrutiny, with California's Governor Gavin Newsom calling for a federal investigation considering possible violation of racketeering and kidnapping laws. 

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/B7TUscW
via IFTTT