Texas authorities opened a criminal investigation into Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sending nearly 50 migrants from Texas to Florida at Martha’s Vineyard last week.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have been victims of crimes, Sheriff Javier Salazar said Monday.
Salazar said migrants were “led” to board flights from San Antonio in Bexar County with false promises of jobs and opportunities when in reality, he said, they were used as political pawns.
“Someone came from out of state, looted these people, lured them with promises of a better life,” said Salazar. a press conference.
A migrant who received a “hunting dog fee” recruited Venezuelans from a migrant resource center in Texas under false pretenses. The 48 migrants recruited were then placed in a hotel for a few days before being transported first to Florida and then to the vineyard for “little more than a photo and video shoot,” the sheriff said.
Salazar – who did not name DeSantis – said the migrants were “exploited and tricked into making this trip to Florida and then to Martha’s Vineyard for what I think is little more than a political stance to assert. a point”.
The communications director of DeSantis’ office responded to Salazar’s allegations.
“The immigrants have been more than willing to leave Bexar County after being abandoned, homeless and ‘left to fend for themselves,'” Taryn Fenske said in a statement. “Florida has given them the opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offers them more resources, as planned. “
Salazar said the migrants were “alone” on the small Massachusetts island, but DeSantis’ office disputed that claim.
“Unless the MA National Guard abandoned these people, they received shelter, food, clothing and other options to succeed after their unfair incitement in the United States, unlike the 53 immigrants who died in a truck found abandoned in the county. of Bexar in June. “said Fenske.
At the press conference, Salazar said the migrants had legal status in the United States – after reporting to US authorities and seeking asylum – but were nevertheless targeted and allegedly exploited.
“When you play with human lives, people who have every right to be here, that tends to annoy me a little bit,” he said.
“These people were here legally. They were documented, “she added.” They had the right to walk freely on the streets and not be transported across the country because it was a media event.
DeSantis said the two flights were part of Florida’s program to move migrants from Florida to shrine towns, despite Salazar’s claims that the migrants were from Texas.
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