Fla. Gov. DeSantis sends migrants to Martha's Vineyard
By: Gwenn Friss (Cape Cod Times)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A receptionist at Martha's Vineyard Community Services looked up late Wednesday afternoon to find a group of 50 people - men, women and children - standing in the center's parking lot.
The migrants from Venezuela didn't speak English but, with the help of a Spanish translator from the nearby Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, community services staff learned the group was from Venezuela and had been put on a plane with nothing but a brochure from the island's service center.
They had walked the two miles or so from the airport to the center.
"We COVID-tested them all. Everyone was negative. A little girl had a temperature so we separated her with her family. A lot of them were shellshocked and afraid," said Janet Constantino, a therapist and nurse practitioner working at the center.
The crowd wouldn't fit in the building so staffers gave them water and snacks in the parking lot while a plan was made.
The migrants thought to be from Venezuela were flown by a chartered aircraft from Florida and/or Texas.
Foxnews.com reported that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two planes full of migrants to Martha's Vineyard as part of his "promise to drop off undocumented migrants in progressive states."
Martha's Vineyard residents step up to help the migrants
"This all started to transpire late (Wednesday) afternoon. They came unannounced," said The Rev. Vincent G. "Chip" Seadale, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Edgartown where the migrants were to sleep Wednesday night. "Since we had several years ago spearheaded efforts to help the homeless on the island, we opened our doors."
Seadale, who has been monitoring the situation by phone from a clergy conference in North Carolina, said his church was providing an immediate place for the migrants and reaching out to other churches Thursday.
"Overnight they can sleep on the pews or in the parish hall on the floor. We are in communication with the governor's office for possible help but these are people just like me and you and they need care and attention."
Dukes County officials also announced it had opened emergency shelters across the island and asked for volunteers to help with what they described as "an unexpected ongoing urgent humanitarian situation."
At about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, state Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, tweeted from the ferry: "Currently migrants are being dropped off on Martha's Vineyard by chartered flights from Texas. Many don't know where they are. They say they were told they would be given housing and jobs. Islanders were given no notice but are coming together as a community to support them."
Carla Cooper said volunteers ordered pizza, salad and soup to feed the people, aged 3 to adults in their 40s, "who had had no food or water since 6 a.m."
"People were just showing up (at the church) with food, rice and beans," she said. "When something happens to our island, we come together to help. We are going to take care of these people."
Cooper, head of the Democratic Council of Martha's Vineyard, said, "It is disgusting and repulsive that these people were herded like cattle onto a plane, not told where they were going and our community was not notified. This is not a joke, this is insanely ridiculous."
Martha's Vineyard and its residents will take care of the strangers, she said, who all spoke Spanish and were using translation apps on their phones to express their gratitude.
Migrants walked from Martha's Vineyard Airport seeking help
Seadale said the arrivals simply walked out of Martha's Vineyard Airport and went on foot "several miles" to the community service center — across from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School — arriving just as the center was closing. They were taken to Martha's Vineyard Regional High School for a snack, he said, before boarding buses that took them to the church.
St. Andrew's staff has reached out to a contact that works with the island's food banks and the Greater Boston Food Bank about arranging meals for the unexpected arrivals, Seadale said.
"I think anyone hearing about this story who wants to help should pay attention to local news reports," he said, "because we may need meals cooked in the next few days."
Martha's Vineyard officials were not sure where the planes came from
The Martha's Vineyard Times is reporting that West Tisbury Town Administrator Jennifer Rand told selectmen, at their meeting late Wednesday afternoon, that only one plane had landed but more are expected. She and other officials were not sure where the plane or planes had originated.
In an interview with foxnews.com Wednesday evening, Taryn Fenske, DeSantis' communications director, said, "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 destination."
Former President Barack Obama owns a home on Martha's Vineyard along with people in the entertainment industry.
DeSantis' immigration policies include a plan to use $12 million to pay for the transportation of undocumented immigrants dropped in Florida from the U.S.-Mexico border, the Tallahassee Democrat reported last month.
The Biden administration's border security and immigration policies have become a favorite target for DeSantis and other Republicans nationwide, the paper reported. The debate ratcheted up earlier this year when two GOP governors — Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona — called out Biden and sent busloads of migrants from their border states to New York City and Washington.
By late August, almost 8,000 migrants have arrived on state-sponsored bus trips, straining resources and humanitarian services of both cities, which have also sought assistance from the federal government.
"History does not look kindly on leaders who treat human beings like cargo, loading them up and sending them a thousand miles away without telling them their destination," U.S. Rep, Wiliam Keating said in a statement late Wednesday night. "Still, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made that choice today. ... Instead of trying to help them, he chose to charter a private jet and send them to a rural island community late in the day and without warning so they wouldn't have the resources at the ready to support them.
"But the people of Martha's Vineyard, its vibrant immigrant community, and the Commonwealth as a whole are already calling Governor DeSantis' bluff and rising to meet the challenge because that's what Americans do — we help those in need."
Florida Venezuelan-American community angry with DeSantis
Venezuelan-American leaders in Florida denounced the "flights of asylum seekers" to Martha's Vineyard, blasting DeSantis, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
"Venezuelan leaders are rightfully outraged," said a joint statement of five Venezuelan-American groups on Wednesday night. They plan a news conference on Thursday.
"Venezuelan leaders and other immigration advocates will come together to denounce this blatant disregard for human life and the lies that Governor Ron DeSantis has told to the Cuban and Venezuelan communities as recently as his September 7th press conference in Miami where he promised that neither Cubans or Venezuelans would be sent out of the state."
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Lets keep this On-topic. Off Topic comments will be deleted.
New American mottos are "Spreading the pain around"; followed quickly by "NIMBY!"
Nice to see virtue signaling Democrat run bastions of stupidity getting a taste of the own medicine. They are first to criticize and enact legislation that punishes border states concerning illegal immigration. But the NIMBYs scream as soon as the first few illegal immigrants show up in their back yards.
Federal assistance, for just 1 busload of illegal immigrants? They have got to be kidding!
How are Republican run border states expected to handle millions of illegal immigrants w/o federal assistance; when Democrat run sanctuary cities can't even handle a couple of busloads?
DeSantis is actually helping these migrants. Instead of being stuck in Florida they get a Florida taxpayer funded flight to Martha's Vineyard. A beautiful seaside resort city with sanctuary status. There's lots of houses and pools to clean and lots of service jobs in the summer. I wonder what his base thinks about him abetting these migrants.
Then why are so many folks bitching about it?
I've been to the border many times. Anywhere within 100 miles of the border has a really heavy border patrol presence. If I were a migrant I would jump at a way to avoid that and get farther north. Florida, of course isn't on the border so this is all just a political stunt. It's liable to backfire on him though once his supporters realize that they're paying to send migrants where they, themselves, can't afford to go.
Maybe it will backfire on liberal mayors and governors who make their places sanctuaries, won't cooperate with immigration authorities often, have lax enforcement of laws, cashless bonds that allow criminals to go free, etc.
A $500 ticket is cheaper than years of support.
Another migrant missile strike from the right in the run up to the second civil war. I guess the south didn’t learn their lesson the first time around.
In reality, flights like this are in line with Biden's policy to fly illegals all over the country. The only difference is DeSantis and Abbot are sending them where Biden didn't. To Democrat states.
And this..................
If she won't go to the border, bring the border to her LMAO
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser finally gave up on the federal government and national guard to take care of this. She has now declared a public health emergency to respond to bus migrants in her city. The declaration makes $10 million available to create a migrant support office.
The Wash Post Editorial Board wrote last week, "District Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has repeatedly declared Washington a “sanctuary city,” driving home the point, in 2018, by denouncing the Trump administration’s policies, celebrating the city’s “diversity and inclusivity,” and proclaiming “we are not a country of fear and cruelty.” Those were inspiring words, but only in recent months has the mayor been challenged to back them up with policies and resources....The White House has scarcely taken notice of the hundreds of eastbound buses that have arrived in the District since April, and twice the Pentagon brushed off Ms. Bowser’s request for National Guard troops to help handle logistics arising from the arrival of what is rapidly approaching 10,000 migrants.
Maybe dumb ass Democrats should demand Brandon and the Democrat controlled Congress actually do something about the southern border crisis; or STFU and accept their fair share of illegal immigrants in their cities and states.
Thought that Democrats were all for everyone paying "their fair share".
Past time Democrat bastions of stupidity and sanctuary cities did more than virtue signal.
Are you somehow trying to equate slavery with sending a few migrants north?
I guess the north doesn't really want to play like a union when there's difficulty involved.
I thought "sanctuary cities" would welcome migrants?
I guess coming from border states doesn't meet the criteria.
Florida is a border state now?
Yes. Have you not seen a map?
No.
It still manages to have enough immigrants to get northern folks all upset about getting a few of them.
It has been for Cuban and Haitian migrants.
That is not what happened. DeSantis took them from Texas and flew them on Florida's dime to Martha's Vinyard. These people never saw Florida.
Florida has nothing to do with the problem on the Texas border. End of story.
Maybe those folks that got off the plane weren't even migrants but were just Floridians that wanted a free September vacation on the Rock.
Oh, thanks for the update. That flight had to be much more comfortable than the long bus ride to NYC or Chicago.
Did you forget the late night/early morning flights to Florida by the Biden administration last year and going forward??
For all we know, passengers that were on Biden Illegal Airways were sent to Martha's Vinyard.
Oh, well.
Biden and his handlers have made it quite clear that they have no real intentions of securing the border, and have gone out of their way to lie and say the border is secure.
The VP has stated that she wants amnesty for millions.
Illegal immigrants are probably in every state, so what's a few hundred or even thousand compared to what Texas has to put up with EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
Personally, I applaud any who send them to sanctuary cities or states. That IS the purpose for being a sanctuary, right--to accept any and all?
In other words it was a publicity stunt to further DeSantis presidential hopes.
He didn't take them from Texas. They were already there via the Biden administration "Midnight Planes to Florida".
"More than 70 flights transporting migrants from the southern border to Jacksonville have landed in the dark of night in recent months as the Biden administration struggles to empty overflowing border facilities, the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
It is the first time the state of Florida has disclosed the number of confirmed flights arriving in the state since the summer. The governor's office has scrambled in recent weeks to uncover who is facilitating the mystery flights landing in northern Florida daily, but the Biden administration has refused to disclose any information, one official said"
Yea, the left forgot how fast Biden could clean out 15,000 migrants from under a bridge.
Let's see how they like feral cats in Martha's Vineyard
Apparently not all like it:
Secret plot? They land in broad daylight in the early afternoon.
Unlike Biden Air that seems to only operate under the cover of darkness.
They'll be sleeping in the streets over there. There are not many cheap hotels on the islands.
Unspayed feral cats?
They want offshore people as much as they want offshore electricity.
The freak out by blue jurisdictions over tiny amount of illegals is something to behold. Limousine liberals remain limousine liberals.
Chicago has one of the largest hispanic populations of any American city outside of California . People here are hardly afraid of immigrants.
Chicago, despite receiving almost no illegal immigrants from Texas, already started bussing them to a suburb.
It appears Lori doesn't want them in her backyard. Looks like black on brown racism.
That makes Martha's Vineyard a good choice for improved diversity. It is 87% White and only 1.5% Brown and 4% Black.
Really?
"So much for Chicago’s ‘Welcoming City Ordinance.’ These Democrat elites are absolute hypocrites, and now their hypocrisy is on full display for the entire nation. Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot have been complaining about a few hundred migrants being bused into self-declared sanctuary city Chicago, then turn around and dump them in the suburbs for Republican mayors to deal with. Instead of complaining about fulfilling their ‘welcoming city’ promises, these Democrat hypocrites should call on President Biden to do his job and secure the border—something the President continues failing to do." .....Renae Eze
There are way more hispanic people in Chicago than there are people ( of any nationality) in Miami.
It was once the second largest city...
Before it became a shooting gallery.
Vic.....bringing it !
These migrants will work hard at jobs that poor native born are unwilling to do.
I deal in reality, not fantasy.
Don't worry, the southern border ain't gonna run out of 'migrants' anytime soon. That supply chain is working just fine. So, everyone can have their share.
What's overlooked is that these migrants aren't being sent to California. Dealing with an influx of unannounced 'migrants' is just business-as-usual on the west coast. Looks like the other coast needs to be schooled. But it seems they don't want to learn anything.
You know, the border states didn't ask for this, either. Even California didn't ask for hordes of 'migrants' jumping the border. But here they are, ready or not. Playing politics won't do anything. Complaining about state budgets won't do anything. 'Migrants' don't care. 'Migrants' only care about what they want. So, give it to them.
This just in.
Why should she be exempt? Maybe if she did her job this wouldn't be happening.
It seems one of the major complaints always coming from blue areas is that these are all "unannounced' immigrants showing up.
Do they think the immigrants announce when they are coming to red states?
Ah, trumpy's press secretary Sean Spicer, hiding in the hedges, lol.
Now, there's a case of 'rent-free in your head'.
If you are going back to six years and a short lived press secretary to get in some sort of dig, you have some serious issues.
Maybe they haven't heard the news that he is no longer the WH Press Secretary.
it think that is their way to deflect from the current failure of a press secretary.
The one that was hired because she met the trifecta.
What a fucking mess. Not yet a civil war, just attempts to DISunite the United States of America. Oh, wait, that's already happening.
Terrible, eh? Especially when Biden campaigned as a uniter.
Only another invasion of the USA is going to unite Americans, and I'm not even sure now if even that would do he trick.