The shipment of 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday, September 14th was unseen for both the island’s townspeople and the Venezuelan/Colombian immigrants. Temporarily living in Texas, immigrants were promised basic necessities by DeSantis if they boarded a plane to Massachusetts. They were unaware, however, that this was a small island  (7 miles off the coast) they were being moved to. There also was no notice to the island’s citizens that the immigrants would be dropped off on the Mass. island.  

Shortly after the migrants’ arrival, the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation and a Local church, Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, got involved by providing shelter, food, and space. Julian Cyr, the state senator of the Massachusetts Cape and Islands District and Dylan Fernandes, the State Rep from Martha’s Vineyard without hesitation hurried directly over after getting the call.

According to GHB news, Fernandes later received death threats for his support of immigrants who arrived on the island.

Part of DeSantis’ Campaign is to move immigrants out of states like Arizona  and Texas where they are heavily populated. He finds flaws in President Biden’s immigration policies and views the transport as a way to limit the rise in illegal immigration: “We [Florida] are not a sanctuary state. It’s better to be able to go to a sanctuary state Jurisdiction. We will help ‘facilitate’ that transport,”  DeSantis told  to WPTV News.

While to some, this may not appear like it would drastically change much, don´t forget that these people were not aware of where they were going. Nor was anyone in Martha’s Vineyard. Nobody was aware that this would be happening, so they didn´t know what to do.

Migrants were dropped at Martha’s Vineyard by flight, and according to NPR some said they were told they were going to Boston. 

Police Chief, Bruce McNamee, told NPR that a lot of migrants expressed confusion shortly after arriving.

“We have talked to a number of people who’ve asked, ‘Where am I?’ And then I was trying to explain where Martha’s Vineyard is.” McNamee Says.

One Woman named Katiuska told MASS live that she isn’t fond of growing chaos and conflict regarding the political aspect of this situation: “We come from a land where everything is political,” Katiuska says. 

Immigrants like Katiuska enter America for the promise of opportunity and safety that they did not have in their native countries. This conflict adds a lot of tension. “We don’t want anything to do with the politics … we want to keep moving forward.” she added according to Mass live.

DeSantis also spoke about the need to fix the border crisis. Reported this fiscal year from News Nation, Florida and Arizona are getting hit hard from Biden’s new policies.

Officials from Maverick County report a 208% increase in migrant encounters near Yuma, A.Z. 

The governor explained that he “thinks what were continuing to do is to use every tool at our disposal to insulate the state of Florida from the negative ramifications from his reckless border policies.” 

But whether there is a crisis currently going on or not, the events at Martha’s Vineyard are clearly forming a bigger problem. 

From the incoherent maps, to lack of directions or thought, it is clear that DeSantis used immigrants as a way to get back at Biden for not securing the southern border well. 

The fact is that nothing regarding health and safety was being taken into consideration. Nothing was set up, no-one was told. This was a poorly thought out way to counter-act growing immigration under Biden. And while DeSantis did provide essentials (that would probably last a day or two)  and maps, he gave no further direction to anyone on what to do after being dropped off.

And the whole situation goes further then Martha’s Vineyard. More immigrants were dropped off  in front of Vice President Kamala Harris’ home without notice, and threats to send another plane to Biden’s home in Delaware later sparked. *News Nation reports the same plane with same tag number being flown in that area. 

What is being done currently is nothing short of a political stunt. Migrants being used as political pawns, as if this is some sort of game. The difference is the pieces are real people.

Many legal concerns have followed, some wanting the Justice Department to find out if this transport broke state criminal and civil laws.

 One of these people was California Governor Gavin Newsom. 

 Governor Newsom feels, “transporting families, including children, across state lines under false pretenses is morally reprehensible, and may also be illegal.”  “I strongly urge the U.S. Department of Justice (US DOJ) to open an investigation into possible criminal or civil violations of federal law based on this alleged fraudulent scheme.”  Newsom said to Mass Live.

*Massachusetts state senator Julian Cyr did not respond to a request for comment by The Bobcat Prowl.