A sheriff in Texas said Monday he has opened an investigation into whether the 48 migrants flown by Florida Gov. DeSantis from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard were victims of a crime.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar investigators have some leads on suspects he would not name who “lured” the refugees to the two planes on Wednesday “under false pretenses.”
“I believe they were preyed upon,” he said, adding that he was working with private attorneys for the migrants, as well as advocacy groups, on the probe. “I believe there is some criminal activity here. But we’re going to keep an open mind.”
He said the migrants were in the U.S. legally and they were “hoodwinked” with promises of jobs and other benefits to make the flight to Massachusetts.
The sheriff, who is a Democrat, said he had not heard from the White House or any federal agency about the situation. He added, however, that he would welcome help from Washington on the probe.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that neither its agents, nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers, have helped DeSantis or the governors of Texas and Arizona relocate asylum-seeking refugees to “sanctuary destinations.”
“DHS .. has not been involved with these recent actions,” said Luis Miranda, deputy assistant secretary for communications for Homeland Security. “Unlike these governors, we are not in the business of using vulnerable men, women, and children as props for a political stunt.”
Also, he said, DHS would not have coordinated such relocations without notifying local officials “for the safety of migrants and the communities receiving them.”
He declined to comment on whether DHS would be investigating the incident.
Both the White House and the Justice Department declined to comment on whether they would investigate allegations of trafficking and kidnapping leveled at DeSantis, who spent $615,000 out of the state budget to charter two jets to fly the refugees. The money came from a $12 million program approved by the Legislature using federal COVID recovery funds.
The contractor that arranged the first flight, Vertol Systems, has a pending payment of $950,000 for two more “projects,” Florida records show.
Nobody on Martha’s Vineyard knew the migrants were coming, and they were left to wander around trying to find a government office where they could find help, according to multiple reports.
Immigration lawyers stepped in to help, and two days after the migrants arrived on the resort island, they were bussed to Joint Base Cape Cod on the mainland. Lawyers worked with federal officials to make sure they’d get where they needed to go without harming their status, Boston immigration lawyer Rachel Self told CBS News.
“We reached out to ICE on behalf of all of them and there is no concern anymore about those check-ins as far as needing to be there next week,” Self said.
Self said some refugees reported they were met by Homeland Security agents before boarding the jets, who gave them false addresses and wrong information about which agency to contact to get their addresses changed. They also were told that jobs and housing would be waiting for them when they arrived, Self said.
It was a “purposeful derailment to prevent people from complying with federal immigration policies” to get them deported, Self said.
Florida, Texas and Arizona have begun transporting migrants out of their states to other states they are calling “sanctuary states.”
DeSantis said his own staff was on the ground in Texas “profiling” people who were expressing an interest in relocating to Florida.
The Governor’s Office did not return a request for comment Monday.
Several news reports said a blonde woman named “Perla” talked to people at refugee centers in San Antonio.
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