How DeSantis’s Political Stunt Upended Immigrant Lives

A Texas county sheriff says he has launched a criminal investigation into two charter flights carrying about 50 migrants from his state to Massachusetts last week–an action that Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has openly taken credit for. Migrants outside a resource center in San Antonio were lured with brochures touting false promises of jobs and education and flown to Martha’s Vineyard where they were unceremoniously dumped with no warning to residents.

Gov. DeSantis, who seems to be hoping such a stunt fuels his presidential aspirations, claimed he flew the migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in order to draw attention to an issue plaguing southern border states. But his move appears to have backfired as the mostly Venezuelan migrants were received by friendly residents, activists, and lawyers who mobilized quickly to help them find shelter and other aid, including legal help.

 

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