A Texas sheriff has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Gov. Ron DeSantis’ choice to transport a group of migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, according to the sheriff’s office.
San Antonio’s Bexar County Sheriff, Javier Salazar, gave a news conference on the migrant flight on Monday. It’s important to note that DeSantis is a Republican and Salazar is a Democrat.
“The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into the migrants that were lured from the Migrant Resource Center, located in Bexar County, TX, and flown to Florida, where they were ultimately left to fend for themselves in Martha’s Vineyard, MA,” the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office tweeted. “Additionally, we are working with private attorneys who are representing the victims, as well as advocacy organizations regarding this incident.”
Video below: Civil rights attorney discusses migrants being flown to Martha’s Vineyard
The agency added that it was “preparing to work with any federal agencies that have concurrent jurisdiction, should the need arise.”
Salazar said his office is investigating whether the migrants were the victims of a crime.
Several migrants said a woman approached them outside a migrant center in San Antonio and offered them jobs and assistance if they flew to Massachusetts. But officials there had no prior knowledge of their arrival.
Salazar believes the migrants were brought there dishonestly.
“Our understanding is that a Venezuelan migrant was paid what we would call a bird dog fee to recruit approximately 50 migrants from the area around a migrant resource center,” he said. “I will use the word lured, under false pretenses into staying at a hotel for a couple of days… and then eventually flown to Martha’s Vineyard… they were promised work, they were promised a solution to several of their problems.”
A spokesperson for DeSantis’s office responded to the probe Monday: “Immigrants have been more than willing to leave Bexar County after being abandoned, homeless, and ‘left to fend for themselves.’ Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected. Unless the MA national guard has abandoned these individuals, they have been provided accommodations, sustenance, clothing and more options to succeed following their unfair enticement into the United States, unlike the 53 immigrants who died in a truck found abandoned in Bexar County this June.”
Related: DeSantis says he’s ‘protecting Florida’ by sending migrants to Martha’s Vineyard
Watch the news conference below:
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