|
Listen to this article here
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Florida Governor Ronald DeSantis is taking credit for the two planes which carried migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts on Wednesday, confirmed by a statement to CNN.
“Florida can confirm the two planes with illegal immigrants that arrived in Martha’s Vineyard today were part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations,” the statement read.
Places like “Massachusetts, New York, and California” will better care for migrants, Taryn Fenske, Ron DeSantis’s communications director, said in another statement.
Martha’s Vineyard was caught flat-footed in their response
“There was no advance notice to anyone in Martha’s Vineyard or Massachusetts that these migrants were arriving to my knowledge,” said Massachusetts state Sen. Julian Cyr, a Democrat who represents Martha’s Vineyard.
“The island scrambled to respond,” he added. “They essentially set up shelters, the equivalent of a hurricane or Nor’easter. They set that up in a matter of hours and these families received a meal. They were Covid tested and are spending the night in shelters at several churches on the island.”
“Even for Ron DeSantis, this is a new low.” Florida Democratic Chair Manny Diaz said in a statement. “There is nothing that DeSantis won’t do, and nobody that he won’t hurt, in order to score political points.”
Charlie Crist, the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, said in a statement, “This is just another political stunt that hurts our state. Tonight, the 4.5 million immigrants who call Florida home must be wondering if they’re next.”
Dems accuse the GOP uses people as pawns as fall vote looms
Many were deceived to take the trip, according to Massachusetts state Representative Dylan Fernandes. They had been told they would be provided housing and employment, he said.
On Twitter, Mr Fernandes described the move as an “evil and inhumane” plot to use “human lives – men, women and children – as political pawns.”
On Thursday, just a day after the migrants arrived in Martha’s Vineyard, two busloads of migrants from Texas – reportedly totalling between 75 and 100 people – were dropped off near Vice-President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington DC.
Texas ships immigrants to VP Harris’ home
On Sunday’s NBC “Meet The Press,” VP Harris, who was put in charge of the border crisis by President Biden, said: “We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration. But there are still a lot of problems that we are trying to fix given the deterioration that happened over the last four years.”
Even still, according to the BBC, two buses carrying about 100 migrants from Texas arrived early Thursday outside VP Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC.
The migrants, many of them Venezuelan nationals, had been picked up in Eagle Pass, Texas, and were then shipped off to DC by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Fox News Digital reported.
To date, it is unclear how many more trips from GOP states into Democratic states are planned.