Republican uses immigrants as a form of pressure and sends planes to island

About 50 migrants unexpectedly landed on Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday, according to local officials. They were flown in on two planes by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which has led to a paroxysm of a tactic by Republican leaders to send immigrants to liberal strongholds like Washington and New York by bus in protest of the rise in illegal immigration under President Joe Biden.

The group, which included children, arrived without any warning around 3 pm local time, according to Democratic state senator Julian Cyr, representing Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts. He says officials and volunteers from the island’s six cities “did their best to basically get the same plan in motion that we have in the event of a hurricane.”

As immigrants received Covid-19 tests, food and clothing, there was confusion over who had sent them to Martha’s Vineyard, a haven frequented by the rich and powerful. The immigrants said they started the day in San Antonio, Texas, but it was the governor of Florida who took responsibility for the action.

Taryn M. Fenske, director of communications for DeSantis’ office, said the two flights are part of a statewide program for immigrants that transports those entering the country without legal permission to so-called “sanctuary destinations.”

“States such as Massachusetts, New York and California will better serve these individuals they have invited to our country, encouraging illegal immigration through their designation as ‘sanctuary states’ and supporting the Biden administration’s open border policies,” he said. Fenske in a statement. This year, the Florida Legislature has set aside $12 million for the program.

One of the immigrants, who identified himself only as Leonel, said in Spanish that the people of Martha’s Vineyard were generous and that he had never seen anything like it. He got a pair of shoes. “I haven’t slept well for three months,” says he, who has no family or friends in the United States. “It’s been the same time since I put on a new pair of pants. Or shoes.”

The 45-year-old Venezuelan said three months is the time since he left his home country and crossed the Darien region between Colombia and Panama, where there are no roads, before heading north through Central America and Mexico. His first attempt to cross the US border failed. In the second, in Piedras Negras, Mexico, he managed to cross the Rio Grande.

Leonel spent several days in detention before being released in San Antonio, where he and other immigrants were told they could get a ticket to Massachusetts. They agree.

Terry MacCormack, press secretary for Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, said his government was in contact with island officials who were providing “short-term shelter services” for immigrants.

Most of the group appears to be Venezuelans, according to state representative Dylan Fernandes. They received basic relief care on Martha’s Vineyard before being taken to the regional high school and then to St. Andrew in Edgartown, a former whaling town that is the best maintained on the island.

Even large US cities struggle to welcome incoming immigrants “with little or no warning,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement. He cited emergency shelter and medical care needed for the 500 immigrants who were bused from Texas to Chicago a week ago.

“While other states may be treating these vulnerable families as pawns, here in Illinois we treat them as people,” it continued.

The challenge facing Martha’s Vineyard — which has a fixed population of about 20,000 — may be even greater than Chicago’s.

Reverend Chip Seadale said that St. Andrew decided to take the immigrants overnight after learning that they had nowhere else to go. A parishioner came to him, knowing that the church shelters homeless people in winter.

The island’s only homeless shelter is closed during the summer and has space for 10 people, with just one bathroom, according to Barbara Rush, director of St. Andrew. “Fifty homeless people is an overwhelming number for the size of the community,” she says. “But this is a strong and capable community.”

Known as a summer destination for influential figures — President Barack Obama and John Kerry both own homes there — the island faces a shortage of affordable housing, with the average home price around $1 million. In addition, immigrants are arriving at the end of the summer season, when seasonal work has ended.

“There are literally no winter jobs and no affordable housing on Martha’s Vineyard,” says Rush. “Most people who have a low to middle income job live off the island and commute to work.”

She says local community groups, churches and restaurants are contributing.

Among the volunteers was Sergio Racig, a property manager who went to the church to serve as an interpreter. “Some of them were tortured by the Mexican cartel – very bad things happened to them,” says Racig, adding that the migrants were happy to see all the support from the island.

DeSantis, a Republican with presidential ambitions, has repeatedly criticized the federal government for transporting immigrants to Florida and has threatened to send them to liberal enclaves. He frequently mentions Biden’s home state of Delaware as a possible destination.