The controversial transport of approximately 50 migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. organized by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will be the focus of the investigation Bexar County, Texas, Sheriff Javier Salazar opened on Monday.
Sheriff Salazar’s criminal investigation will probe the individuals and their suspected activities involving the 48 migrants from Venezuela who were lured from the Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio to Florida and later flown to Martha’s Vineyard.
Salazar, an elected Democrat from south Texas, claims that Venezuelan migrants were “lured” from the migrant resource center under false pretenses to staying in a hotel for a few days by one migrant who was paid a bird-dog fee to recruit the migrants, who were allegedly promised work and other benefits.
The sheriff’s office is working with private attorneys who are representing the migrants as well as advocacy organizations and is also preparing to cooperate, should the need arise, with any federal agencies that have concurrent jurisdiction.
They also called for a probe into DeSantis’s actions, claiming he may have broken laws against fraud or human trafficking.
According to Salazar’s claims, the group was flown first to Florida and then to Massachusetts as part of DeSantis’ effort to draw attention to his stance against liberal immigration policies.
He said that they were later unceremoniously stranded in Martha’s Vineyard after DeSantis’, as he called it, ‘little more than a photo op.’
According to DeSantis communications director Taryn Fenske’s claims, Venezuelan migrants that were flown to Martha’s Vineyard were previously abandoned, homeless, and left to fend for themselves, so they were more than willing to leave Bexar County.
He reminded of the 53 immigrants who died in a truck found abandoned in Bexar County this June before emphasizing that Venezuelan migrants have now been provided accommodations, sustenance, clothing, and more options to succeed following their unfair enticement into the US.
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