DeSantis sends migrants to Martha's Vineyard, lashing out against President Biden's border policy (2023)

TALLAHASSEE – Almost 50 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia began their first full day Thursday on Martha’s Vineyard, a wealthy island off the coast of Massachusetts where they were flownby Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a swipe at President Biden’s border policy.

DeSantis sent two planes full of migrantsfrom Texas aday earlier, prompting surprise and confusion among islanders who quickly turned to providing aid to the arrivals.

Those sent atFlorida taxpayer expense by the governor were even more surprised, officials said.

“A lot of them were shell-shocked and afraid,”Janet Constantino, a therapist and nurse practitioner, told the Cape Cod Times.

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The migrants werehoused overnight Wednesday at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown on the island.

Migrants said they had been in Texas, and it appeared DeSantis chose to stepin and finance their transportation to make a political statement about immigration, part of a Republican effort to pressure Biden.

Attempt to pressureBiden

DeSantis was following the lead of other Republican governors, Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona, who have sent migrants to Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

On Thursday, Abbott dispatched two buses carrying migrantsto the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington — the vice president’s residence — with most from Venezuela.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday that the actions by DeSantis and Abbott were “shameful” and “reckless.”

“We have had a process in place, there is a legal way of doing this, and for managing migrants,” she said during the daily briefing with White House reporters. “Republican governors interfering in that process and using migrants as political pawns is shameful, is reckless, and just plain wrong.”

"The fact that Fox News and not the Department of Homeland Security, the city or local [advocacy groups] were alerted about a plan to leave migrants, including children, on the side of a busy D.C. street makes clear that this is just a cruel, premeditated political stunt," she said referring to the migrants left near the vice president’s residence.

News of the migrants arrival in Martha's Vineyard was first reported by Fox News and included video footage of them deboarding two planes at the local airport.

"What they are doing is an illegal stunt … a political stunt and it's really just disrespectful to humanity,”Jean-Pierre added.

Speaking in Niceville on Thursday morning, DeSantis defended his decision, saying the Biden administration’s border security policies were failing and that Florida is not a “sanctuary state.”

“We take what's happening at the southern border very seriously, unlike some, and unlike the President of the United States who has refused to lift the finger to secure that border,” he said, noting the record number of people and drugs transiting across the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

As part of a broader plan to keep immigrants attempting to enter the country illegally, DeSantis said he wanted to send a message that they were not welcomed in Florida.

“If you have folks that are inclined to think Florida is a good place, our message to them is we are not a sanctuary state, and it's better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction. And yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures.”

A DeSantis spokeswoman late Wednesday confirmed that themove relied on a $12 million program financed by Florida taxpayers to remove undocumented immigrants. The program, pushed by DeSantis, was approved earlier this year by the Republican-led Legislature, and the Martha’s Vineyard flights appear to be the first use of the dollars.

“States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as ‘sanctuary states’ and support for the Biden administration’s open border policies,” said Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’ communications director.

DeSantis, who is running for re-election in November and is seen as a likely Republican presidential contender in 2024, has blamed the Biden administration for ending the federal “remain in Mexico,’ policy that had begun under his one-time political mentor, former President Donald Trump.

A Martha’s Vineyard airport official told a local newspaper Thursday that both planes originated at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, then went to Crestview on the Florida Panhandle. From there, one plane went to Spartanburg, S.C., before continuing to the island, while the other went to Charlotte, N.C., before landing on Martha’s Vineyard.

The stop on the Florida Panhandle appears designed to make the use of state dollars to transport Texas migrants legitimate. The $12 million Florida program calls for the money to be used to transport migrants "from this state."

Unlike other locations targeted with migrants by Republican governors, Martha’s Vineyard is not a metropolitan area with a robust social services network. There are no large refugee or migrant services’ organizations on the island, nor federal immigration representatives.

Sanctuary state a target

Massachusetts is considered a sanctuary state after its Supreme Court ruled that local and state law enforcement are not authorized to help enforce federal immigration laws. DeSantis has railed against such sanctuary standards, and in 2019 signed a law banning Florida cities and counties from enacting such policies.

A federal judge ruled the law unconstitutional as discriminatory. Florida is appealing that ruling, backed by Republican attorneys general from 17 states.

Martha’s Vineyard officials reported that 48 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia landed unexpectedly at Martha’s Vineyard Airport late Wednesday afternoon.

Massachusetts officials said the planes were from Texas and the passengers were told they would be given housing and jobs. The Cape Cod Times reported that the migrants had been put on flightswith nothing more than a brochure from the island’s community services center — about two miles from the airport.

The arrivals walked to the center, local officials said.

State Rep. Dylan Fernandes, a Democrat from nearby Falmouth,tweetedthat migrants knew nothing about their destination and that local officials were given no notice about the migrants' arrival.

"Many don't know where they are," he said. "They say they were told they would be given housing and jobs."

DeSantis held big-dollar fundraiser

DeSantis, who attended a $50,000-a-seat dinner fundraiser on nearby Nantucket last month, has railed about President Biden’s southern border policies, blaming it for an increase in the illegal drug fentanyl in the state, along with crime and other woes.

He recently talked of sending migrants from Florida to Biden’s home state of Delaware. And he has mentioned Martha’s Vineyard as a target for migrants comingto Florida.

DeSantis’ Democratic rival for governor, Charlie Crist, blistered him for the move.

“Everything Ron DeSantis does is to score political points with his hard right base in a thinly veiled attempt to run for President — but it’s Floridians who pay the price,” he said in a campaign statement. “Florida is spending $12 million to fly innocent migrant children out of our state when that money could be spent on fighting to help Floridians and lower costs."

U.S. Rep. William Keating, a Democrat whose district includes Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, said he was “disgusted by Governor DeSantis’s decision to prioritize cruelty and chaos over human dignity in today's taxpayer-funded stunt.”

“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,” he said.

On the island, the influx caused some level of chaos, which was obviously sought by the Florida governor.

Spanish translators from the local high school helped social service workers communicate with the arrivals. Water and snacks were provided in a parking lot.

County officials also announced that they opened emergency shelters across the island and were asking for volunteers to help with what they called “an unexpected, ongoing, urgent humanitarian situation.”

Volunteers step forward on island

Dozens of volunteers stepped forward through the night and into Thursday.

A woman overseeing the relief effort at the island’s St. Andrew’s church,praised the community's outpouring of support.

“We have literally everything we need right now,” Lisa Belcastro told the Vineyard Gazette newspaper.“This place is a stopgap — it is not a long-term solution. The challenge is at some point we have to move these people…we can’t house anyone here.”

She added,“Every single person has come up and said they want a job; they are not looking for a handout. Some of these people have been through horrific things. They need a break. They need help.”

Venezuelans in Florida condemn action

Venezuelan-American leaders in Florida denounced the “flights of asylum seekers” to Martha’s Vineyard, blasting DeSantis.

At a press conference in Doral,a city that has largely grown and developed by Venezuelan and South American immigrants, Venezuelan-American groups and business leaders ripped DeSantis for what they called a "morally repulsive" political stunt.

Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, said no Venezuelan, no Hispanic, no immigrant should ever be used "in his political games to gain headlines, to gain political points."

She also blasted the governor saying he is using Venezuelans' opposition to the "cruel, criminal and terrible" dictatorship of Venezuela's NicolásMaduro.

She said the governor simply wants Venezuelan support when "it is convenient to obtain votes" while then "trafficking in our pain."

The group called the governor’s move a “blatant disregard for human life,” and accused him of lying to Cuban and Venezuelan communities earlier this month, when they said he pledged not to sent migrants from either country out of state.

DeSantis went to the Texas-Mexico border last year to talk tough on border policy with Abbott, the Texas governor. DeSantis also dispatched more than 250 state law enforcement officers with the stated mission of helping Texas stem the influx of migrants and drugs.

The Florida taxpayer-financed force stayed for several weeks and reported more than 9,000 contacts with migrants at the border.

One Florida Republican congressional candidate condemned both DeSantis and Democrats for using the immigration issue to “score political points” with voters.

James Judge, who is running against Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor in Tampa, said politicizing people in need of help “is not only un-Christian, it’s un-American.”

“Using human beings who are fleeing socialism, including women and children, for political gain, is absolutely disgusting and the furthest thing from being Christ-like that I can imagine,” he said Thursday. “For someone who talks about putting on the full armor of God, I think our governor got this one tremendously wrong.”

He said his congressional opponent, along with Democrats “demonize” those law enforcement officers trying to enforce border security and immigration laws. “Castor, (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi and Biden’s policies are inhumanely ushering in illegal immigrants, which inadvertently supports organized crime, drug cartels and terrorism while creating a serf-like class of workers,” he said.

“As Christians, we’re called to love our neighbors. And, whether you’re a Christian or not, I think it’s evident that both political parties are significantly failing our citizens and our neighbors. They have become divisive to the point of hatred, and we are at a really ugly place in American history. I believe our society needs to recheck the moral compass and try to do unto others as we would have them do unto us,” he said.

Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, condemned DeSantis’ action.

“Immigrants and asylum-seekers are people — period,” she said. “It is cruel and immoral that some governors are involuntarily flying and busing people and families to other states, based on their perceived immigration status.”

Rose said the response on Martha’s Vineyard, “shows what Massachusetts looks like at its best: a place that values the lives and well-being of all people.”

But in Florida, DeSantis ally Jimmy Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer, slammed critics of the governor’s decision.

“Shame on the empty-headed pundits who now want to score cheap points by saying this relocation program, done by the state and in accordance with federal law, is ‘human trafficking,” Patronis said Thursday. “They simply don’t want to look at the truth — the lack of any real federal immigration policy leaves us at the state level to do what we can with what we have.”

Contributing: Palm Beach Post Politics/Business Editor Antonio Fins; Cape Cod Times Executive Editor Anne Brennan; and, Cape Cod Times reporter Gwenn Friss. Reach her atgfriss@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @dailyrecipe.

John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @JKennedyReport