Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said in a Sept. 19 online news conference that his office launched a criminal investigation into a what he called “political posturing” involving the sudden transport of 48 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office alleged that a Venezuelan migrant was paid by a woman to recruit several dozen individuals currently sheltered at the city of San Antonio’s Migrant Resource Center, 7000 San Pedro Ave., for charter flights bound for so-called “sanctuary states” such as Massachusetts.
That trip, Salazar said, was a widely reported event with two unannounced flights of migrants leaving Kelly Field in San Antonio and landing in Martha’s Vineyard, a renowned resort island, on Sept. 14.
Salazar and other authorities and immigrants’ rights advocates charge that the 48 migrants were promised they would immediately get jobs and housing that never existed.
In media reports, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took credit for facilitating the shuttling of nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, saying Massachusetts, New York, California and other states led by Democratic officials show a willingness to admit undocumented immigrants as opposed to states such as Texas and Florida.
Salazar said he is troubled by the idea that politics may have sparked the sudden transport of migrants, who already have taken desperate measures and risked their lives to flee their home for a job and a better life in the United States.
"What infuriates me the most is what we have is 48 people here legally—they have every right to be here and they were preyed upon, lured with promises of a better life and with the knowledge they would cling anything that was offered for a better life and were exploited and hoodwinked to make the trip to Florida for what I believe was political posturing,” Salazar said.
Salazar said the BCSO is investigating whether the individuals involved in rounding up and flying the migrants out of San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard broke any state or federal laws.
Salazar said the BCSO had communicated with Boston attorney Rachel Self, who is representing some of the migrants, and the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is offering a $5,000 reward for any information about a woman named Perla who may have paid one migrant a “birddog” fee to recruit fellow migrants for the charter flights.
"LULAC is taking this action of offering a $5,000 reward to help stop the deliberate and possible illegal actions of deceiving people by enticement," LULAC President Domingo Garcia said in a statement.
The BCSO asks anyone with information about the migrants’ allegedly being lured from the Migrant Resource Center to take part in the Massachusetts-bound flights to email [email protected].
Garcia said “Perla,” someone witnessed talking with individuals at San Antonio’s Migrant Resource Center, is described as having “blonde hair, light-complected, and accompanied by a man in a white truck.”
According to media reports, public and private sector organizations and churches around Cape Cod/Martha’s Vineyard area have been working to care for the migrants since their arrival in Martha’s Vineyard.
San Antonio-area leaders, such as Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, have denounced the sudden cross-country transfer of migrants.
“To use migrants and refugees as pawns offends God, destroys society and shows how low individuals can be for personal gains. These tactics promote human trafficking. We pray for conversion of heart. God protect our sisters and brothers in need,” Garcia-Siller said on social media.
