DeSantis Flies Immigrants to Martha Vineyard

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Federal watchdog probes whether covid aid enabled Florida’s migrant flight

A federal watchdog is investigating whether Florida improperly tapped coronavirus aid to fly migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, part of a widening government inquiry into states that put their pandemic dollars toward controversial immigration crackdowns.

The inspector general for the Treasury Department confirmed its new interest in a letter sent last week to Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and other members of Congress who had expressed concern that the spending approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “violates federal law.”

Federal covid aid enabled Florida to pay for migrant flights
The probe comes roughly a month after Florida flew dozens of migrants, including children, from Texas to Massachusetts, in the latest example of a Republican-led state sending migrants to Democratic-leaning communities.

 

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Venezuelan migrants on DeSantis' flights eligible to apply for “U” visas

When nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants were left stranded in Martha’s Vineyard last month after Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis flew them to the island from Texas, they had no employment, housing or clear pathway to citizenship.

But this week, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the San Antonio area and previously opened an investigation into the flights, agreed to certify that the migrants had sufficiently cooperated with its investigation and are now eligible to apply for “U” visas, a kind of immigration status for victims of certain crimes that occur on U.S. soil.

 

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So I guess we should thank DeSantis? Maybe that was his play all along! It's like in the movie Sneakers when Brice hands over the decoy box.

Edit: I mean it's plausible. It's not like he wasn't a federal prosecutor who wouldn't know about "U" visas. (I must admit, this is the first time hearing about those).

 

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So I guess we should thank DeSantis? Maybe that was his play all along! It's like in the movie Sneakers when Brice hands over the decoy box.

One of my favorite movies.

 

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National Guard officer who chased Cape tour bus summonsed to court on multiple charges

Potential charges against Lt. Col. Christopher Hoffman, who live-streamed his pursuit of a tour bus on Sep. 19, will be heard by a clerk magistrate.

www.capecodtimes.com

FALMOUTH — An off-duty officer with the Massachusetts National Guard who chased a tour bus he thought was bringing migrants to Cape Cod last month has been summonsed to appear in Falmouth District Court on multiple charges, Falmouth police Lt. Michael Simoneau said.

Lt. Col. Christopher Hoffman, 51, followed the bus — which turned out to have been transporting 37 senior citizens from Tennessee on a tour of Cape Cod — for approximately 10 miles, in the evening, from the Bourne Rotary to the Admiralty Inn & Suites in Falmouth. He live-streamed his pursuit of the bus on his Facebook page.

Falmouth police issued a summons to Hoffman on charges of operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle and disorderly conduct, Simoneau said in an email to the Times.

A portion of the video Hoffman made while chasing the bus was obtained by the Times. In it, Hoffman jubilantly praises Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' efforts to send migrants who crossed the Southern U.S. border to Cape Cod. He thought the bus was full of migrants because Tallahassee, Florida, was written on the side of the vehicle.

When the bus reached the hotel, Hoffman got into a verbal altercation with passengers on the bus, said Michael Vaughn, the bus driver and owner of Mike's Limousine, a Tallahassee-based transportation company.

Hoffman can be seen talking to Vaughn and, later, having an angry exchange with passengers on the bus in a pair of videos that were made in the parking lot of the hotel. The videos were shared with the Times provided they would not be published.

 

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A Venezuelan migrant unable to legally work in the United States was paid to help coordinate Gov. Ron DeSantis’ migrant flight program,
putting the Republican governor’s high-profile political gambit in conflict with his long-standing push to crack down on undocumented labor.

The migrant, a 27-year-old named Emmanuel, told the Miami Herald he helped find passengers to fill planes that DeSantis wanted to send from Texas to Democratic strongholds in northern states. He was recruited by Perla Huerta, a 43-year-old former U.S. Army counterintelligence agent working for Vertol Systems Company — which has been paid more than $1.5 million by the DeSantis administration to execute the operation. Emmanuel ended up receiving three cash payments totaling $700 from Huerta for his work on behalf of DeSantis’ relocation program, he told the Miami Herald. Text messages reviewed by the Herald corroborate his account.

Like thousands of other recently arrived migrants paroled into the country, Emmanuel does not have a work permit. With no savings, he worked illegally and relied on cash jobs to survive. In San Antonio, he turned to Huerta to see if she could help him out with a paid gig.

“Well, it looks like I might have another flight ... I’ll hire you so you can help me,” Huerta wrote to Emmanuel in Spanish in a WhatsApp message reviewed by the Herald.

In 2018, when DeSantis was a little-known congressman running for governor, he vowed to require all public and private employers to use the federal E-Verify program. Once elected, he pressured the Legislature to pass the measure during the 2020 legislative session. In his State of the State speech, he underscored to state lawmakers the importance of passing such a law. “Assuring a legal workforce through E-Verify will be good for the rule of law, protect taxpayers, and place an upward pressure on the wages of Floridians who work in blue collar jobs,” he said.