Florida's DeSantis evil political stunt by relocating innocent Venezuelan migrants has backfired!

The migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard, most originally from Venezuela, say they were tricked into boarding planes in Texas under a false promise of expedited work papers and housing. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has since taken credit for what he’s called a “voluntary” relocation. Many of the migrants, Luzardo among them, have painted a very different picture.

Venezuelan flag and migrants

This is the America I love: Humanity wins! An echo opinion letter published in the Las Vegas Sun by Fabiola Santiago:

This is the admirable America I know exists — the humane one many of us love with all our hearts.

A year after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plucked two groups of migrants from Texas and — using Florida taxpayers’ money — flew them to Martha’s Vineyard, under false pretenses, his evil scheme to dump them on liberals without any aid has been, once again, met with extraordinary kindness.

Score another win for the forces of good, which would not leave penniless women, two children and young men lost and bewildered.

The volunteers on the island who fed, sheltered and helped resettle the 49 migrants — most of them Venezuelan — brought them back to Martha’s Vineyard last weekend, this time, to celebrate.

Venezuelan migrants

They invited every single one of the migrants, now scattered around the country and starting lives anew, to return to St. Andrew’s Church for a joyful first-year reunion.

It was a gesture, motivated by the desire to do more good, to make them again feel welcome against the backdrop of a national epidemic of anti-immigrant hate. Not all could come, but the 36 who did step away from jobs and obligations showed joy and gratitude to their hosts and benefactors.

How beautiful is that?

A year ago, 49 migrants arrived unexpectedly on Martha’s Vineyard, a wealthy island community off the Massachusetts coast. Immigration advocates called it a cruel political stunt, but it has surprisingly created a legal advantage that some of the migrants might be able to use to remain in the United States.

Among them was Carlos Luzardo, who worked seven years as a barber after moving to Colombia from his native Venezuela. After living through a political crisis and then economic upheaval, he sold his business and decided to migrate to the U.S.

“It was a difficult decision,” he said earlier this month, speaking through an interpreter.

In the last year, the stocky, gregarious 25-year-old has been slowly building a new client base in the kitchen of his apartment in a Boston suburb. To earn more money, he works in a salon washing hair, waxing eyebrows, and simply talking with people. “I spend an hour with them, fixing them up. And just like that, they find me endearing. I’m not sure why,” he added with a smile. The generous Vineyard community raised money to host the asylum seekers, with cases still pending, inviting them to bring guests, and they paid their way, their stay and activities, including group gatherings and trips to the beach.

The black-and-white pictures and story in The Vineyard Gazette show quite an emotional bash.

The refugees’ smiles, hugs and thumbs-up are an antidote to the anti-immigrant rhetoric poisoning Americans: The spirit of Lady Liberty redeemed. The humane character Americans were known for.

The Vineyard volunteers didn’t have to do any of this. They had already made a huge difference in these people’s lives when they initially arrived.

DeSantis pulled this publicity stunt to position himself as the most
immigrant-loathing of them all in the GOP race for the White House — putting at risk immigration hearings and location check-ins. They could have missed appointments and court dates and ended up in legal trouble from where there’s no coming back.

But the Vineyard souls — plus, the national outrage generated by Democrats over DeSantis’ cruelty — facilitated immigration lawyers, and another story began to be written. Charity toward fellow humans replaced Republicans’ vilification of people fleeing circumstances so dire most Americans cannot imagine them.

What DeSantis, bragging father of three, did — leaving confused kids and their parents without food or shelter on a street corner for political thrills — was inhumane. He, it’s to be hoped, never becomes president, as he has shown how low he’s willing to stoop for personal ambition.

The Vineyard residents’ generosity of spirit leaves the governor with a fresh dose of egg on his face — a bonus to the happy news of the reunion.

They kept their plans private, allowing only one local reporter and a photographer to chronicle the moments of friendship, joy and fraternity. And, as the hosts requested, the Gazette agreed to hold off publishing the story until after the immigrants had a chance to return home.

“We wanted this to be a sacred time,” organizer Lisa Belcastro told the Gazette.

Belcastro, a homeless shelter coordinator, whom the right-wing media took out of context to show liberals don’t want immigrants either, is exceptional.

A year ago, she cried when she told the media gathered around her about the “trauma” the migrants had endured. “Some of them have gone through really horrific things,” she said, breaking down for a moment, then picking up their defense.

“It’s step by step, folks,” she said.

And here she is, offering another step up — and still protecting them.

I only found out about the celebration because a watchful reader, Helena Poleo, sent me the link to the story.

“This is what happens when a community comes together,” Caracas-born Poleo wrote to me. She’s a Miami political consultant and media professional, a former journalist and an immigrant-rights advocate.

Her words took me back to pre-Trump times when America was the kind of country that, indeed, came together for immigrants.

Martha’s Vineyard reminds us: It is inconceivable that too many Americans fail to condemn DeSantis for his cruelty to the Venezuelan migrants he used and abused.

All of us should be throwing the Venezuelan refugees a party.

Fabiola Santiago is a columnist for the Miami Herald.

Governor Ron DeSantis has misplaced ambitions and is a fake stunt creator

What does the Martha’s Vineyard wrong minded publicity stunt to Republican Governor Ron DeSantis say about the Trump wannabes?

Opinion echo by Jamelle Bouie, published in The New York Times:

Ron DeSantis, the (failed) Republican governor of Florida, is a (political idiot) that likes to do stunts. It is a key part of how he’s built his reputation as a (below the belt!) fighter for conservative causes — a reputation he hopes to ride to the White House.

Governor DeSantis is not ready for prime time, writes Jamelle Bouie in The New York Times.

We saw one of those stunts this week when, using a promise of assistance, he lured several dozen Venezuelan asylum seekers onto a pair of planes in Texas and sent them to Martha’s Vineyard. According to NPR, “The migrants said a woman they identified as ‘Perla’* approached them outside the shelter and lured them into boarding the plane, saying they would be flown to Boston where they could get expedited work papers.”

The conceit of this dehumanizing bit of political theater was that the liberal denizens of Martha’s Vineyard would reject the migrants out of hypocrisy, thus proving that Democrats aren’t actually interested in welcoming immigrants into their communities. To DeSantis and his amen corner, asylum seekers are disposable, and they believe that liberals will want to dispose of them too.

What happened, instead, was that residents of Martha’s Vineyard rallied to provide food, shelter, clothing and services. The asylum seekers are now on their way to Cape Cod, to receive further assistance. The stunt failed to make its intended point.

The same was true of a previous stunt, in which DeSantis touted the arrests of 20 former felons for election fraud. The intended message was that Florida, and presumably the entire country, needed to be on constant alert to block fraudulent voters. But in the days and weeks after the arrests, an investigation by The Tampa Bay Times found that the state had actually cleared those residents to vote. As far as they knew, they hadn’t broken the law. If anything, they had been entrapped as part of a scheme to make DeSantis a more attractive candidate for the 2024, Republican presidential nomination.

With his command of conservative media and his obvious attempts to mimic the style and mannerisms of Donald Trump (right down to the big suits and frequent hand gestures), DeSantis has made himself into something of an heir apparent to the former president, should Trump decline to run in the next election.

But I think these failed stunts tell us something important about DeSantis’s ability to succeed on the national stage.

In short, DeSantis is not quite ready. (Ya' think?) 

Yes, when viewed from the perspective of partisan media, DeSantis looks almost unstoppable. But to a typical person — someone who may have heard about these stunts but doesn’t know much about DeSantis otherwise — he looks a lot like a bully, someone willing to play high-stakes games with people’s lives for the sake of his own ego and advancement.

Well, you might say, Donald Trump is a bully, too. Yes, he is. But Donald Trump is also a lifelong celebrity with a public persona that is as much about “The Apprentice” and even “Home Alone 2” as it is about his political career. What’s more, Trump has the skills of a celebrity. He’s funny, he has stage presence, and he has a kind of natural charisma. He can be a bully in part because he can temper his cruelty and egoism with the performance of a clown or a showman. He can persuade an audience that he’s just kidding — that he doesn’t actually mean it.

Ron DeSantis cannot. He may be a more competent Trump in terms of his ability to use the levers of state to amass power, but he’s also meaner and more rigid, without the soft edges and eccentricity of the actual Donald Trump.

Ron DeSantis has built a profile as a pugilistic culture warrior with eyes on the presidency. (Vox)

This doesn’t mean that DeSantis cannot win the Republican presidential nomination or even the presidency; of course he can. What I think it means, however, is that his Trump 2.0 act might fail to reach the marginal voters who liked Donald Trump for his persona and performance more than for his positions or policies. It means that on a national stage, DeSantis might flop like one of his stunts.

And looking back at the last decade or so of Republican presidential contests, it would not be the first time that a vaunted conservative fighter fell flat on his face when he finally took a swing at prime time.

* Check my blog about "Who is Perla?" at this site here.

Who is the Republican human trafficker names "Perla"?

Did individuals illegibly acting on DeSantis’ behalf trick migrants at a shelter into getting on the stunt flight to Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts? Did they not even understand the distinction between refugee and asylum-applicant status themselves? Unraveling that would require knowing who exactly did the recruiting? Little is currently known besides several migrants having said that a woman named “Perla” was involved. (Echo reported in Slate by Ben Mathis Lilly).

Venezuelan Refugees

Texas sheriff will investigate how the Florida governor flying Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard is human trafficking.

Authorities in Texas opened a criminal investigation into Governor Ron DeSantis’ operation to fly roughly 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts last week.



Migrant Sonia, 30, wipes away tears in Eagle Pass, Texas, as she remembers how she left her child in Venezuela in hopes of providing a better life for them both.

Echo report published in the Miami Herald by Sarah Blaskey and Nicholas Nehemas.

Bexar County Texas Sheriff Javier Salazar announced at a news conference that his office is investigating whether the migrants were the victims of a crime, saying they were “lured under false pretenses.” Many migrants said they agreed to fly from San Antonio to the Massachusetts island after being promised jobs. But there was no work waiting. “I believe people need to be held accountable for it to the extent possible,” Salazar said.

“At this point, I’m not able to definitively say here’s the statute that they broke, either federal, state or local, but what I can tell you is it’s wrong. Just from a human rights perspective, what was done to these folks is wrong.”

DeSantis took responsibility for the two (tax payer paid) charter flights last week, saying they were part of a state program to relocate migrants from Florida, although the group of Venezuelans was in San Antonio. Salazar, a Democrat, called the flights “political theater.” He did not name DeSantis.

He also said his office was working with a private attorney for the migrants, as well as advocacy groups, and was preparing to cooperate with federal agencies “should the need arise.”

One potential lead: Salazar said he believed a Venezuelan migrant had been paid a “bird dog fee” to recruit other migrants in San Antonio for the flights.

In response to a request for comment, Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis’ deputy press secretary, did not answer with words. Instead, he emailed a screenshot of a news story with the headline: “Bexar County Sheriff Salazar says Biden admin’s handling of immigration ‘isn’t working.’ ”

On Monday night, DeSantis appeared on Sean Hannity’s #FakeFoxNews Fox News show and defended the flights.

DeSantis (wrongly!) said the program was “clearly ❗ 😧voluntary and all the other nonsense you are hearing is just not true.” But the migrants said they were recruited for the Martha’s Vineyard trip with falsehoods. Several said that a woman known as “Perla,” who is not believed to be a migrant, approached them outside a migrant resource center in San Antonio and (illegally!) offered them jobs and assistance if they flew to Massachusetts.

Illegal brochure distributed to the Venezuelan migrants.

Those claims of employment and other opportunities turned out to be false as officials on Martha’s Vineyard were unprepared for their arrival last Wednesday.

In addition, brochures provided to the migrants said they could receive cash assistance and employment services after landing. The brochures included the phone number and website of the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants. The office said it did not print the brochures, which were shared with the Herald by Lawyers for Civil Rights, a Boston-based legal group representing some of the migrants.

While “Perla’s” full name and connections have not yet been publicly revealed — despite a handbill, distributed by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), offering $5,000 for information on her identity — Salazar suggested the investigation could reach Florida.

“If somebody’s in Florida and they need to be brought here to be brought to justice, that’s just paperwork at that point,” the sheriff said. He said investigators had obtained the names of “persons of interest” but declined to release them yet.

Bexar County Texas Sheriff Javier Salazar announced at a news conference that his office is investigating whether the migrants were the victims of a crime

In fact, the migrants have legal status in the United States, having presented themselves to U.S. authorities after crossing the border in Texas and seeking asylum status. DeSantis has said the flights were financed with Florida taxpayer money meant to remove migrants from Florida. All the migrants boarded in San Antonio, which is in Bexar County, although the planes stopped in Florida’s Panhandle to refuel. Transporting migrants from Texas with Florida money appears to conflict with language included in the state budget that authorized the $12 million program. Passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and supported by most Democrats, the budget instructed the Florida Department of Transportation to spend the funds “to facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state.”

DeSantis has suggested the flights were a way to intercept migrants before they reached Florida. On Sunday, the Herald interviewed migrants who had just crossed the border in Eagle Pass, Texas. None of them told journalists they wanted to go to Florida. Instead, most hoped to travel to New York. They spoke of a dangerous journey to the United States and an uncertain future now that they’re here. None had the money for a $50 bus ticket to San Antonio, the nearest city. Advocates say that makes them easy prey for scammers. 

Miami Herald staff writers Bianca Padró Ocasio and Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis using human cruelty as a political stunt

‘Huge mistake’: DeSantis’ migrant transports could undercut support in South Florida.

Echo report published in Politico by Gary Fineout

A young migrant couple embraces on the porch of St. Andrew’s Parish House in Edgartown- Martha's Vineyard. (Jesse Costa/WBUR.  "We left Venezuela because we felt threatened — we were threatened by criminals but also by the government," he said in Spanish.

Several of the immigrants said they had no idea that they were part of what’s being described as a political game. They said they arrived in the U.S. by land from Venezuela after a perilous three-month journey on foot through Central America and Mexico.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to transport mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this week could hurt the Republican governor in November with a key constituency that the GOP has sought to win over.

The move by DeSantis dominated the radio and television airwaves in South Florida — where large swaths of Hispanic voters live. One Spanish radio host loudly denounced the move and even compared DeSantis’ actions to that of deceased Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who relocated Cubans in the early ‘60s.

Democrat Charlie Crist, who is challenging DeSantis, on Saturday rushed out a new digital ad targeting Hispanics and the Venezuelan community as part of a six-figure buy pounding DeSantis over his attention-getting move.

Migrants were misled, promised jobs, free housing before being taken to Martha's Vineyard

“From a Miami perspective, it’s a huge mistake,” said state Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Democrat challenging incumbent Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.). “All these Republicans — including my opponent — historically talk about socialism and communism and that we are standing up to these horrible dictators. The migrants are fleeing exactly what Republicans say they are fighting against.”

Florida Republicans in recent years have made it a priority to court Venezuelan Americans, many of whom fled their home country in the past decade amid the political and economic turmoil under Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez. It’s a story that has parallels to Cuban Americans — a crucial bloc of support for the GOP — who left their country to escape communism.

The Venezuelan American community in Florida remains a relatively small but growing slice of voters in Florida. Recent estimates have said that there are at least 200,000 Venezuelans in the state.

But on Wednesday, DeSantis facilitated two flights to carry a group of roughly 50 Venezuelan and Colombian migrants to Martha’s Vineyard as part of a push by the (can we spell "ambitious"?) DeSantis to draw attention to the border policies of Biden administration.

 

Many of the nearly four dozen migrants said they felt grateful as they prepared to board one of three charter buses to catch a ferry to mainland Massachusetts. "God bless all of you," one of the men said, raising his hands in gratitude, as he boarded a bus.

Moreover, many of the migrants are presumed to be seeking asylum after fleeing Venezuela. Some of the migrants told media outlets and immigration activists that they were misled about where they were going. (?Ambitious!) DeSantis denied this allegation, saying those on the planes gave their consent (#RepublicansLieAboutEverything!) and were given maps that explained their final destination.  (OMG how can Venezuelans read a map of the United States? Oh Paleeeze!)

When asked for comment, the DeSantis administration pointed to a previous statement defending the transports.

DeSantis’ actions were widely condemned by Democrats as inhumane while being cheered on by conservatives who contend the surge in immigration is being ignored by Biden.

“I have friends and neighbors who fled Venezuela’s brutal dictator, and to cruelly treat anyone in that spot like a political pawn or fundraising gimmick, is simply repulsive,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), whose own district includes a large contingent of Venezuelan Americans.

The move came less than 24 hours before Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and other Florida Republicans held their own press conference in front of the White House to denounce Biden’s policies on Latin Americans, including recent overtures by his administration to Maduro’s regime.

While DeSantis staunchly defended his actions in press conferences this week, some Florida Republicans have been cautious in their remarks. Scott himself sidestepped a question about whether DeSantis should have transported the migrants, instead saying Biden should do more to secure the border.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), during a West Palm Beach appearance, said he didn’t know the details of what DeSantis did, according to television station WPTV. But he added that “people want to freak out about Martha’s Vineyard, whatever, but I’m telling you that the bigger problem here is not that 50 people were sent to Martha’s Vineyard.  Nevertheless, the bigger problem is that, every single day, thousands of people enter the US illegally.”

Daniel Di Martino, a conservative Venezuelan activist and immigration researcher who was born and raised in Venezuela, however, was skeptical that DeSantis’ actions would cause much political blowback for the governor.

“I think the goal is for it to look like a mess,” Di Martino said. “I think it’s going to be successful.” (HELLO? What about the fact that DeSantis is treating innocent Venezuelans like political pawns?)

Di Martino noted that new visa requirements — which Mexico imposed on Venezuelans — had forced more Venezuelans to take a longer and more dangerous route to the Southern border. Reuters reported that those new rules were adopted at the urging of the Biden administration to deal with a spike in the number of Venezuelans coming into the United States.

“I think everybody is a hypocrite,” said Di Martino.

One problem for Democrats seeking to create a wedge between Republicans and Venezuelan Americans is that the Biden administration’s ongoing overtures to Maduro have not been received well by those who previously escaped the country. 

Even some Florida Democrats were upset in May when the Biden administration said it would ease sanctions on Maduro’s government if he held talks with U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

“The smart people understand what’s going on,” said Ernesto Ackerman of Independent Venezuelan American Citizens and a GOP committeeman in Florida. “It’s not a problem of Gov. DeSantis. It’s a problem of the federal government.”

DeSantis said Friday that the flights this week were just the “beginning” and he welcomed the attention that was now being placed on the immigration policy put in place by the Biden administration.

“I’m glad that this has now put this issue on the front burner, because it really should be on the front burner,” DeSantis said. “Because this is an intentional policy that is having really negative implications not just for border communities but for communities all across the country.”

DeSantis’ hard line on immigration is not new. He pushed to pass a law to ban “sanctuary cities” or communities that refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The governor had been talking about busing migrants to other locations — including Biden’s home state of Delaware — since late last year.

Governor Ron DeSantis Bible Study 101: Matthew- "When did we see you a stranger...?"

God views our compassionate treatment of refugees as an indicator of our true Christianity.

Bible Study 101- Matthew: “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (New International Version).

Florida's failed Governor Ron DeSantis' - leads the cruel Martha's Vineyard stunt: Uses innocent migrants as human pawns, helping no one.

It’s possible to believe America’s immigration system is broken while also condemning the behavior of governors shuttling migrants across the country like cattle to score political points.

Brace yourselves for Rex Huppke reports in USA Today:

"I believe that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to use Florida taxpayers’ money to fly two planes of Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, dumping them on the island without advance notice, is morally reprehensible and an inhumane political stunt."

Martha’s Vineyard resident quickly stepped up to help the migrants, Governor Charlie Baker may move the migrants to Cape Cod.

Although the refugee/immigrant crises at the U.S. southern border continues to grow, The New York Times editorial reports, "The Trump administration tried a number of methods to discourage people from filing new asylum claims, including forcing some people to remain in Mexico while they applied for asylum in the United States. Nevertheless, asylum claims actually rose steeply under President Donald Trump, partly because of a surge in migration but also as a defense against his stepped-up effort to deport people".

"They feel lied to and they feel betrayed....", migrants sent by DeSantis to Martha's Vineyard.

Migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard given misleading information, lawyers say: Volunteers continue to help the dozens of Venezuelan migrants who were brought to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, immigration attorneys speaking with the men, women and children are getting a better understanding of how they ended up on two chartered planes.

"They were told in Texas that they were coming to a place that had jobs and homes and shelter waiting for them," said Larkin Stallangs, with Maratha's Vineyard Community Services.

Frankly, Republicans are engaging in a humanitarian zero sum game. They will not benefit from their political resettlement stunt. In fact, the GOP cannot fix our nation's broken immigration system. But, nevertheless, they are responding with cruelty directed to innocent migrants, refugees and immigrant asylum seekers, but the GOP has zero plan to improve the situation, while a growing humanitarian ground swell of desperate people are fleeing from Central and South America.