Criminal Probe Into Martha's Vineyard Migrant Incident Launched In Texas

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA — A sheriff in Texas has launched a criminal probe into the circumstances that led to 48 migrants being flown to Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 14.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, a Democrat, said the migrants were lured from an immigrant resource center before they were flown to Florida, and then Martha's Vineyard.

"They were promised work, promised solutions to several of their problems," Salazar said during a Monday news conference. "They were taken to Martha's Vineyard for little more than a photo op, a video op, and then unceremoniously stranded."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said his administration sent the migrants to Martha's Vineyard as part of a Florida program to "transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations." The migrants reportedly landed with a crew from Fox News to document their arrival.

Salazar said a Venezuelan "bird dog" was paid to visit an immigrant resource center in San Antonio to find migrants and offer them a way to get to Boston, promising jobs and other benefits if they took the trip. The migrants were given a pamphlet titled "Massachusetts Refugee Benefits" that described what the Venezuelans would receive once in Massachusetts.

Salazar noted that the 48 migrants who ended up on Martha's Vineyard were in the U.S. as legal asylum seekers.

Elected officials in Massachusetts have called DeSantis' immigrant flight a stunt, and a likely bid to win favor with conservative voters ahead of an expected 2024 presidential bid.

"Exploiting vulnerable people for political stunts is repulsive and cruel," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a tweet last week.

After Salazar's criminal probe announcement, a DeSantis spokesperson said Florida was offering the migrants a path to a better life outside Texas.

"Immigrants have been more than willing to leave Bexar County after being abandoned, homeless, and 'left to fend for themselves,'" DeSantis spokesperson Taryn Fenske told the Associated Press. "Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected."

The migrants have since left Martha's Vineyard and are being cared for at Joint Base Cape Cod with help from the National Guard.