Some Migrants Who Had Been Flown To Martha's Vineyard Will Nonetheless 'wind Up In Florida Anyway,' Advocacy Group Says

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The roughly 50 migrants touched down on the island earlier this week, shocking a neighborhood that was not anticipating their arrival however shortly worked to coordinate and deal with the migrants’ wants. On Friday, the group was taken to a army base to obtain shelter and humanitarian help, officers said.

The flight’s stunt was a part of a sequence of efforts by Republican governors who, important of federal efforts on southern border safety, have begun transporting migrants to liberal cities and states. Also this week, two buses of migrants despatched by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott arrived outdoors Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence within the nation’s capital.

Many of the migrants who had been despatched to Massachusetts didn’t need to keep in Martha’s Vineyard as a result of they’ve household or associates in different elements of the nation like Miami and Portland, Oregon, and now they’re making an attempt to determine easy methods to get tickets to these locations, Garcia mentioned. Three folks he spoke to needed to go to Florida, he added.

“It’s a political stunt,” Garcia instructed CNN over the telephone Saturday. “They’re going to wind up in Miami.”

Migrants launched from authorities custody usually transfer to different cities throughout the US as they undergo their immigration proceedings.

The two flights of migrants who arrived in Massachusetts — and for which Florida’s governor claimed credit score — had been coming from Texas, not Florida. But DeSantis has for months been speaking about plans to get his state concerned in redirecting migrants from the southern border and to liberal areas. And on Friday, he set the expectation for buses and “likely more” flights stuffed with migrants paid for by Florida, including that “these are only the start efforts.”

Garcia mentioned he spoke in particular person to about 11 migrants on Martha’s Vineyard on Friday and, individually, a number of migrants in DC. Most of the migrants had been proud of the “welcome that they had acquired in Martha’s Vineyard,” however felt that they had been used for politics, Garcia mentioned.

'They enriched us.' Migrants' 44-hour visit leaves indelible mark on Martha's Vineyard

He criticized DeSantis and Abbott over their remedy of the migrants, saying the governors need to “rating political factors with their base.”

Democratic leaders, migrants’ advocates and federal officers have additionally denounced the strikes of the 2 governors. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused the governors of utilizing migrants as “political pawns” and mentioned their actions amounted to a “merciless, premeditated political stunt.”

Lawyers for Civil Rights, a bunch of attorneys representing greater than 30 of the migrants flown to Massachusetts, on Saturday asked US Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins and the state’s legal professional common to open legal investigations into the flights, additionally calling them a “political stunt.”

A spokesperson for Rollins’ workplace instructed CNN they didn’t have a remark.

Rollins told reporters on Thursday she can be talking with members of the Department of Justice about DeSantis sending the migrants to Massachusetts, saying on the time she didn’t but have sufficient data to say whether or not he broke any legal guidelines in doing so, and added their first precedence was ensuring the individuals who arrived had been handled respectfully.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office mentioned the workplace is in contact with federal and state companions, gathering info and evaluating all authorized choices associated to the 2 flights.

“Our workplace continues to evaluate all data related to this case,” spokesperson Chloe Gotsis instructed CNN in an announcement.

Meanwhile, Garcia on Saturday described the scene when the migrants left Martha’s Vineyard for Joint Base Cape Cod — already an emergency shelter designated by the state emergency administration company — a day earlier and native volunteers bid them goodbye.

“Everyone was clapping and cheering them on,” he mentioned. “It’s truly what America’s presupposed to be like.”

CNN’s Maria Santana contributed to this report.

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2022-09-18 01:39:09