Florida Governor Ron DeSantis flew two planes full of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday,the latest move by Republican governors to bring attention to what they see as the failed border policies of the Biden administration.
Even though DeSantis’ office didn’t say much about their legal status, many illegal Mexican immigrants who cross the border into the U.S. are temporarily protected from deportation because U.S. authorities let them seek asylum in immigration courts or give them humanitarian parole.
The Republican governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, said he was in touch with local leaders and that short-term shelter was being set up.
Dylan Fernandes, who is a state representative for Martha’s Vineyard, wrote on Twitter: “Our island did everything it could to help. It set up 50 beds, fed everyone a good meal, gave the kids a place to play, and made sure that everyone has the medical care and support they need. We are a group of people who work together to help immigrants.”
Martha’s Vineyard is known as a place where liberal elites go on vacation, and DeSantis has been talking about it a lot at his press conferences. On the taxpayer’s dime, Republican governors in Texas and Arizona have also been taking migrants from the border to cities in the north.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the Island Wide Regional Emergency Management of Martha’s Vineyard said, “As far as we know, about 50 people from Venezuela who were looking for shelter landed at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.”
DeSantis, who has been talked about as a possible presidential candidate, seems to be taking the strategy to a new level by using planes and picking Martha’s Vineyard, whose harbor towns of about 15,000 people are much less ready than New York or Washington for large numbers of migrants.
In April, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, started sending thousands of migrants by bus to Washington, D.C. He recently added New York and Chicago to the list of places to go. Since May, Doug Ducey, the governor of Arizona, has been sending people to Washington by bus. People who want to go on the free trips must sign waivers saying they want to go.
