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- Small plane crash lands in Martha’s Vineyard after pilot suffers medical emergency, police say NBC News
- A passenger took over controls and crash landed a small plane at Martha’s Vineyard Airport after the pilot suffered a medical condition, officials say CNN
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A passenger took over controls and crash landed a small plane at Martha’s Vineyard Airport after the pilot suffered a medical condition, officials say – CNN
- A passenger took over controls and crash landed a small plane at Martha’s Vineyard Airport after the pilot suffered a medical condition, officials say CNN
- Small plane crash lands in Martha’s Vineyard after pilot suffers medical emergency, police say NBC News
- Small plane crash-lands on Martha’s Vineyard after pilot passes out, passenger takes control Fox News
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DeSantis’ migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard appear outside the scope of Florida transport program guidelines, state documents show
CNN
—
A pair of flights carrying migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last month, orchestrated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, may have exceeded the original scope of the state’s plan to transport undocumented individuals, according to records obtained by CNN.
The records show that in the months leading up to those flights, Florida had planned a narrower mission for a controversial new state program to transport migrants to other states. The goal, according to a callout to contractors and guidelines for the program, was to, “relocate out of the state of Florida foreign nationals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
But that’s not what transpired. On September 14, two planes picked up 48 migrants in San Antonio – not Florida – and dropped them off in Martha’s Vineyard.
The documents, provided to CNN through a records request and released Friday evening by the Florida Department of Transportation and the governor’s office, offer new details about the stunt that thrust DeSantis even deeper into the middle of a national debate on immigration. From the White House to Florida, Massachusetts and beyond, the condemnation from Democrats was swift. So was the praise from Republicans for DeSantis, who only further bolstered his standing in his party as he considers running for President in 2024.
A Democratic state lawmaker is already suing the state and asking a judge to stop future flights, arguing the DeSantis administration was illegally spending taxpayer dollars. The budget act that created the $12 million program specified the money was set aside to relocate “unauthorized aliens from this state.”
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The records for the first time also directly tie a $615,000 state payment made to Vertol Systems Company for the September flights that sent migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard. Previously, the payment to Vertol was disclosed by the state, but the governor’s office for weeks declined to confirm that the check was linked to the flights that landed in Massachusetts.
The Florida Department of Transportation, the agency tasked with executing the new migrant relocation program, received a price quote from Vertol CEO James Montgomerie on September 6 for “the first Project,” one document showed. Montgomerie identified that project as “the facilitation of the relocation of up to fifty individuals to the State of Massachusetts or other, proximate northeastern state.” The price, he said, was $615,000.
The next day, FDOT officials sent a letter asking for authorization for the $615,000 and the state made the payment within the next 24 hours, according to financial statements maintained on the Florida Chief Financial Officer’s website previously reported by CNN.
In communications with FDOT earlier during the summer, Montgomerie offered the state services that suggested a considerably less ambitious mission for the migrant relocation program.
On July 26, after a discussion with FDOT’s general counsel, Montgomerie gave the agency estimates for his company to charter flights that could carry four to 12 people from Crestview, Florida, to the Boston or Los Angeles areas, according to an email from the Vertol executive to FDOT.
“We are certainly willing to provide you with pricing information on specific ad-hoc requirements on a case by case basis,” Montgomerie wrote in the email.
The prices quoted for flights originating from Florida more closely aligned with FDOT’s guidelines for the program that it sent to prospective contractors and the agency’s request for quotes. In the three-page guidelines, FDOT stipulated the chosen company needed to ensure “that the Unauthorized Alien has voluntarily agreed to be relocated out of Florida.” The quotes also showed Montgomerie early on anticipated Vertol would be moving less people. Later, in September, his quotes evolved to include many more people on board.
Ultimately, the planes that left San Antonio briefly touched down in Crestview before eventually landing in Massachusetts.
At the time of the state’s request for contractors, DeSantis was publicly claiming that President Joe Biden could send buses of migrants from the US-Mexico border to Florida. But DeSantis acknowledged last month those buses never arrived, and his focus began to shift hundreds of miles away to Texas.
DeSantis has said the intention of executing the flights from Texas was to stop the flow of migrants at the source before they came to Florida.
“If you can do it at the source and divert to sanctuary jurisdictions, the chance they end up in Florida is much less,” DeSantis told reporters in September.
DeSantis has vowed to use “every penny” of the $12 million allocated to his administration for migrant transports. However, the state has not publicly taken credit for any transports since the two planes landed in Martha’s Vineyard.
State Sen. Jason Pizzo, the lawmaker now suing DeSantis, said the governor cannot choose to ignore the law when spending state money.
“You can’t even play by your own rules,” Pizzo told CNN last month when speaking of DeSantis. “This isn’t something that we passed 12 years ago. It was done four months ago at your request.”
DeSantis’ office previously said the lawsuit by Pizzo was an attempt at “15 minutes of fame.”
The state has paid Vertol $1.6 million so far through its migrant program, which is funded by interest earned on federal coronavirus relief money, according to the state budget documents. The initial payment of $615,000 was made by the FDOT on September 8, six days before the Martha’s Vineyard flight. Another payment for $950,000 followed on September 16, though it’s not clear what that payment went for.
A few days after that second payment, reports of a similar flight plan from San Antonio to Delaware, Biden’s home state, sent officials there scrambling to prepare for migrant arrivals. The flights, though, never arrived.
The state did not provide a contract with Vertol in the records released Friday night. Nor do the documents offer further insight into why Vertol was chosen over two other companies that appeared to submit quotes to the state, according to records.
CNN has reached out to Montgomerie for further comment.
Vertol had an existing link to a DeSantis administration official prior to its work with the state. Lawrence Keefe, Florida’s “public safety czar” appointed by DeSantis to lead the state’s crackdown on illegal immigration, represented the aviation company from 2010 to 2017.
In its quoted price to the state, Vertol said it was providing “Project management, aircraft, crew, maintenance logistics, fuel, coordination and planning, route preparation, route services, landing fees, ground handling and logistics and other Project-related expenses,” according to the documents.
The request for quotes from the state also asked that potential contractors have “multilingual capability for Spanish.” The chosen contractor would also have to develop procedures for “confirming with Partner Agencies that the person to be transported is an Unauthorized Alien.” Pizzo and others have questioned whether the migrants are considered “unauthorized” by the federal government if they are legally seeking asylum.
Brad Pitt releases genderless skin care line with grapes from his vineyard
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Brad Pitt has a new business venture up his sleeve with the release of his new skin care brand, Le Domaine.
“Le Domaine is not meant to be a celebrity brand,” Pitt said in a news release. “It is an anti-aging cosmetics range for every man and woman. I love the idea of a genderless line.”
Pitt told British Vogue why he decided to make the skin care line gender-neutral, saying, “I don’t know if it’s just that I believe in being all-inclusive as much as possible? Or maybe it’s about us guys needing help from others in understanding how we can treat our skin better? I mean, I probably got more from my female partners in the past.”
The actor, who owns Château Miraval in Provence, a French winery known for its rosé, joined forces with the Perrin family, who also produce his wine, to create the luxe skin care line.
RUSSIAN OLIGARCH AT CENTRE OF ANGELINA JOLIE, BRAD PITT FRENCH WINERY BATTLE
Brad Pitt’s genderless skin care line uses patented ingredients and antioxidants to slow down the skin’s aging process. (Le Domaine Skincare / Fox News)
“When the Perrins told me about the research they had conducted with a professor on the antioxidant property of the grapes and leaves, it clicked,” Pitt said. “We rapidly moved on with the concept of developing a unique sustainable skin care brand, merging state-of-the-art research with the best natural ingredients.”
The winery, which was originally purchased by Pitt and his then-wife Angelina Jolie, has been a source of contention for the exes.
Although the 58-year-old owns the Château now, which the couple officially purchased in 2012 after leasing the property, Jolie’s former company is suing him, alleging he hijacked control of the winery. Pitt is suing Jolie for allegedly selling her shares of the winery without his authorization.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt married in 2014 and share six children. Their heated post-divorce battles have included lawsuits over their French winery. (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic / Getty Images)
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Pitt’s pricey skin care line, which costs anywhere from $80 to $385, repurposes materials for it’s packaging, something that is important to Pitt.
“I’m a big fan of architecture and design, and I loved the idea of upcycling oak wood from the wine barrels of the Perrin wine estates. We worked with a local designer to create this unique cap for the jars and bottles. It is made in France by craftsmen, and each piece is unique. The result is both minimalist and sensory.”
The cream and fluid cream are two of the products Le Domaine offers. (Le Domaine Skincare / Fox News)
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Pitt credits the creative history of Château Miraval with giving him inspiration to start the line.
He told British Vogue the compound has “always been this hub of creativity. It has so many places within it where you want to sit and think and expand and explore and make beautiful things. … I know there are new products nearly every day that people are trying to launch, but if I hadn’t seen a real difference visually in my skin, we wouldn’t have bothered.”
Martha’s Vineyard church answered call to aid migrants: ‘We can take in all’ of them
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At least one group on Martha’s Vineyard rallied to aid the 50 migrants who touched down on the island for two nights — less than 48 hours all told — last week.
The unexpected visitors spent two nights taking shelter in the rectory hall of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown, Mass., and were cared for by its members.
“There were people who needed help and the mission of our church is to help people in need, to do what Christians are supposed to do,” church warden Barbara Rush told Fox News Digital.
MARTHA’S VINEYARD RESIDENT SAYS MIGRANTS WILL ‘LUCK OUT’ AND GET MORE SERVICES THAN ‘DOWN SOUTH’
When the migrants arrived, authorities called Rev. Father Chip Seadale — but he was off-island, Rush said.
So she sprang into action to rally support for the migrants from church members and others in the community, she said.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown, Mass. on Martha’s Vineyard welcomed 50 migrants into its care when those individuals arrived on the island on Sept. 14, 2022.
(Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
“They [the authorities] asked if the church could take in some of the migrants,” parish musician Charles Rus told Fox New Digital.
“Fr. Seadale answered, ‘No — we can take in all of the migrants.’”
The 50 migrants spent two nights on the island before state authorities had them bussed and ferried to Joint Base Otis on Cape Cod, on the Massachusetts mainland.
“There were people who needed help and the mission of our church is to help people in need, to do what Christians are supposed to do.”
Rush said the island of Martha’s Vineyard is not equipped to provide long-term care to the migrants who had been flown from Florida to the island a week ago.
MARTHA’S VINEYARD MERCHANT SAYS THERE’S A ‘PROCESS’ FOR COMING TO AMERICA, ‘FOLLOW THAT’
“It was not for lack of wanting to help, but for lack of physical space on the island itself,” she said.
The island’s lone homeless shelter, she noted, runs only in the winter. It has space for only five to 10 people.
A migrant, at left, is directed forward on Martha’s Vineyard. At right, the exterior of St. Andrew’s Church is pictured. “I can do what God is calling me to do as a rector of a church,” said Fr. Seadale.
(Left image: Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; right image: Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
“I think everything happened so fast, I don’t think long-term plans were even discussed,” said Rush.
Fr. Seadale told Fox News Digital in a phone interview on Tuesday that he was away at a conference in North Carolina while the migrants were in Martha’s Vineyard.
He was nevertheless moved by the community response.
Calling it “an incredible miracle,” he said that “all the sectors of the community — we’re talking police, emergency, fire, the people who know how to make meals for our winter community suppers, the people who help to staff our overnight winter shelter program — they all came out and knew exactly what they needed to do.”
“It was not for lack of wanting to help, but for lack of physical space on the island itself.”
Fr. Seadale also said that “at the heart of all of that” was the drive to make sure that whatever community members did, “they remained accessible to real people who were really hurting and traumatized in their lives.”
This was, he said, to show the migrants “what a community based on caring and love looks like.”
Victorian gingerbread cottages in Oak Bluffs, on Martha’s Vineyard. Fr. Chip Seadale said that the community aimed to “do the best with what we’ve got” to help the migrants.
(Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)
He said that the community’s response will also “give them hope for the balance of their journeys — which, by the way, are not over by a long shot.”
Fr. Seadale defended Martha’s Vineyard against allegations the island’s residents were selfish.
“Unless you’re really living here, you don’t understand how things work,” he explained.
MARTHA’S VINEYARD RESIDENTS LAMENT LACK OF RESOURCES, EVEN AS ISLAND IS FLUSH WITH CASH AND BEDS
“Everybody has a different way of doing things,” he said, noting economic, socioeconomic, governmental and private ownership concerns.
“So, you know, we do the best that we can with what we’ve got.”
A man who was among a group of immigrants to arrive on Martha’s Vineyard flashed a thumbs-up on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, in Edgartown, Mass.
(Ray Ewing/Vineyard Gazette via AP)
Fr. Seadale said that he realized right away that his church had the ability, temporarily, to house all of the migrants — and, as a rector, he had to do what he could.
MARTHA’S VINEYARD RALLIES RELIEF EFFORT FOR MIGRANTS BY SHIPPING THEM TO CAPE COD MILITARY BASE
“I can’t fix the immigrant legislation in the United States of America,” he said. “I can’t help [Gov.] Greg Abbott and [Gov.] Ron DeSantis with their issues in their respective states — knowing that they have issues that they’ve been dealing with for years now, on the borders.”
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He added, “But I can do what God is calling me to do as a rector of a church, and reach out and say, ‘You know what? I know you’re stuck in something that’s bigger than you.'”
It was “kind of strange” to watch his small church “become part of a national issue,” he said.
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By housing the migrants, Fr. Seadale said that Martha’s Vineyard residents aimed to prevent them from “really getting caught up in the machinery of these things and sometimes, chewed up and spit out.”
He said that would likely happen “unless others like me and [the community] step in and say, ‘You know what? We can do what we can.’”
Legal group files class action lawsuit on behalf of advocacy group and migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard
CNN
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Lawyers for Civil Rights, a non-profit immigrant advocacy group that represents more than 30 of the nearly 50 migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Alianza Americas and other migrants, according to a news release from the organization.
Two planes carrying nearly 50 migrants – mostly from Venezuela – arrived at Martha’s Vineyard from Texas last Wednesday night under arrangements made by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The move was part of a series of initiatives by Republican governors to transport migrants to liberal cities to protest what they have described as the failure of the federal government to secure the southern border.
The lawsuit was filed against DeSantis, Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue, the state of Florida and the state Department of Transportation, according to the release and the suit itself. The suit, in part, said the defendants defrauded vulnerable immigrants to advance a political motive for chartering two flights carrying migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard.
“No human being should be used as a political pawn in the nation’s highly polarized debate over immigration,” said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, Lawyers for Civil Rights executive director.
The lawsuit alleges several dozen migrants were gathered by a woman to “sign a document in order to receive a $10 McDonald’s gift card” and that she “did not explain what the document stated, and it was not completely translated to Spanish: an entire paragraph about liability and transport was not translated at all, and language specifying that the journey would take place from Texas to Massachusetts was not translated at all either.”
One of the plaintiffs in the case, according to court documents, was told by unidentified individuals that “when they first met that by leaving Texas, he would be provided with permanent housing, stable employment, and help with his immigration process.”
Oscar Chacòn, executive director of Alianza Americas, called DeSantis’ flights to Martha’s Vineyard “morally despicable.” Alianza Americas is a network of migrant-led organizations supporting immigrants across the US.
“That is why we have taken the steps to legally challenge what we view as not only a morally reprehensible action, but what we believe is also illegal,” Chacòn said in a statement. “We want to do everything we can to prevent more abuses against newly arrived immigrants, especially asylum seekers who deserve support, protection and to be recognized for the incredible contributions they make to the U.S., as well as their loved ones in their home countries.”
In response to the lawsuit, DeSantis’ office repeated what was previously said: The transportation of migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard “was done on a voluntary basis.”
“The immigrants were homeless, hungry, and abandoned – and these activists didn’t care about them then. Florida’s program gave them a fresh start in a sanctuary state and these individuals opted to take advantage of chartered flights to Massachusetts,” the statement read.
DeSantis’ office also released a copy of what they refer to as an “official consent to transport” form which includes a redacted signature of someone they purport is a migrant who consented to their flight to Martha’s Vineyard.
Bexar County, Texas, Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters Monday evening his agency will open an investigation into the transportation of 48 Venezuelan migrants from the state to Martha’s Vineyard.
Salazar, a Democrat, said Monday it was his understanding that a Venezuelan migrant was paid last Wednesdauy to recruit 50 migrants from a resource center in San Antonio, the seat of Bexar County. As such, Salazar said he believes laws were broken not only in the county but also on the federal side.
The migrants were flown to Florida and then to Martha’s Vineyard under “false pretenses,” he said.
The sheriff said they were flown to Martha’s Vineyard for “a photo-op and stranded.” He believes the migrants were “exploited and hoodwinked” into making the trip for political posturing. The sheriff has been speaking with an attorney who represents some of the migrants for first-hand accounts of what took place, Salazar told reporters.
The allegations that he has heard thus far are “disgusting and a violation of human rights,” he said. Salazar said he believes there needs to be accountability for what happened.
DeSantis, who claimed credit for arranging the migrants’ flight, told Fox News Monday night the migrants were not misled.
“They all signed consent forms to go and then the vendor that is doing this for Florida provided them with a packet that had a map of Martha’s Vineyard, it has the number for different services that are on Martha’s Vineyard,” DeSantis said.
“Why wouldn’t they want to go, given where they were? They were in really, really bad shape and they got to be cleaned up, everything, treated well,” he said.
The Florida Department of Transportation paid $1.565 million to Vertol Systems, an aviation company based in Destin as part of the state program to relocate migrants, according to state budget records.
A payment of $615,000 was made on September 8 and a $950,000 payment was requested by the state on September 16, budget records show.
The budget records do not detail what kind of “contracted services” Vertol provided the department, nor is it clear whether the two payments were for two flights to Martha’s Vineyard that were flown and operated by Ultimate Jet Charters, a separate private jet company based in Ohio.
Reports and flight plans suggested a plane chartered to take migrants to Martha’s Vineyard was about to bring a group of migrants to Delaware, prompting state officials and volunteers to make preparations Tuesday.
The preparations came after flight tracking sites overnight displayed a flight plan filed with a commercial scheduler and the Federal Aviation Administration involving one of the Ultimate Jet charter planes that was used in the Martha’s Vineyard flights and resembled that flight. The sites listed a route from Kelly Field in San Antonio to a brief stop in Crestview, Florida, and on to Georgetown, Delaware.
Salazar, the sheriff in Texas, said Wednesday he was told to expect another flight Tuesday, but plans were changed.
“We had word this morning that there was going to be a flight arriving to San Antonio and leaving with a planeload of migrants toward Delaware,” he told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Tuesday. “My understanding is that at the last minute, we received word that flight was postponed.”
Salazar said they were not given a reason for the flight to be postponed.
Jill Fredel, spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, said in a news conference Tuesday they have no reports of any migrants arriving at this time. She said the governor’s office has not received any outreach from Florida or Texas, but noted the state is putting preparations in place just in case.
Gov. John Carney’s office also heard of the reports and officials were working to prepare in case migrants arrived unannounced, according to governor spokesperson Emily David Hershman.
“We are coordinating with Federal officials and are prepared to welcome these families in an orderly manner as they pursue their asylum claims,” she said.
Attorneys for migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard looking into origination of brochures they believe were handed out under ‘false pretenses’
The brochure lists refugee services, including cash and housing assistance, clothing, transportation to job interviews, job training and assistance registering children for school, among other resources.
One Venezuelan migrant, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity for fear of negative impacts on their immigration case, shared images of the brochure. They said migrants were told that the brochure had information on the assistance they would receive in Massachusetts, but they were not told about the differences in programs for refugees and asylum seekers.
Migrants are, in many cases, asylum seekers, not refugees. Refugees apply for protection overseas and are admitted through the refugee admissions program, whereas asylum seekers apply within the United States.
The asylum seekers, whom local officials believe originated from Venezuela, arrived in Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday, flying in from Texas under arrangements made by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis, who is up for reelection this year, said he wanted to call attention to the border crisis. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — another Republican with a reelection bid — has bused thousands of migrants to New York and Washington, DC, throughout the summer to also highlight his criticism of the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
DeSantis’ move was sharply denounced by the White House, Democratic officials and immigration lawyers who say the migrants were misled about their final destination.
In a Friday news conference, DeSantis said that everyone signed waivers and knew where they were going. “It’s obvious that’s where they were going,” he said, adding, “It’s all voluntary.”
‘Massachusetts Welcomes You’
The brochure, which has now been posted online by the legal group representing many of the cases, features a photo of what appears to be a road sign that reads “Massachusetts Welcomes You” and a photo of a nondescript lighthouse. It also provides a brief summary of what resettlement agencies may be able to do for refugees, in both English and Spanish text.
The brochure also lists the telephone number for the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, which told CNN this is not a document published by their office.
The front includes a picture of the state of Massachusetts and a list of community services agencies located on Martha’s Vineyard and at least one on Cape Cod.
The list includes the number for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services — which ultimately received the migrants and helped them find initial housing in a church on the island.
Oren Sellstrom, the litigation director for Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston, which is representing many of the migrants, said his clients left Texas expecting to have everything promoted in the brochure waiting for them once they landed.
The lawyers are investigating the origin of the brochures, when they were given to the migrants and why, according to the group.
DeSantis again defended sending the migrants to Massachusetts during an interview with Fox News Monday night and said, “The vendor that is doing this for Florida provided them with a packet that had a map of Martha’s Vineyard. It had the numbers for different services on Martha’s Vineyard, and then it had numbers for the overall agencies in Massachusetts that handle things involving immigration and refugees.”
It wasn’t clear whether he was referencing the brochure in question.
Two of the migrants previously told CNN that while they were in San Antonio, they decided to go on the trip after two women and a man approached them on the streets near a migrant resource center.
One of the migrants, Wilmer Villazana, said he was put up in a hotel for five days before the flights and was well taken care of. The women told him they were from Orlando and worked for private organizations that raise funds to help migrants, Villazana said.
Most migrants are not eligible for programs referenced in the brochure
“The type of program that is being discussed here is not something that is typically going to be available for any immigrant,” Sellstrom explained. “It’s highly misleading in the sense that it was used to entice our clients to travel under the guise that this support was available when in fact, the type of program has highly specific eligibility.”
Most of the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard have been processed by federal authorities and will go through immigration proceedings where an immigration judge will ultimately decide whether they can remain in the United States. Given their status as asylum seekers, not refugees, they are likely not eligible for the benefits listed on the pamphlet.
Refugees are eligible for benefits available to them through the federal government, including cash assistance and medical assistance. Generally, asylum seekers are not eligible for federally funded benefits though once granted asylum, they may receive some assistance.
The migrants continue to receive humanitarian services at Joint Base Cape Cod after Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office voluntarily transported them there, activating more 100 National Guardsmen in the all-out effort.
US Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins told reporters Thursday she would be speaking with members of the Department of Justice about Gov. DeSantis sending the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
Migrants’ 44-hour visit leaves indelible mark on Martha’s Vineyard
A familiar quiet had descended by Friday afternoon on the tree-lined downtown block on Martha’s Vineyard, where Jackie Stallings, 56, could not stop thinking about a young Venezuelan — she was 23 but looked 15 — who sat with her in the St. Andrew’s Parish House the night before.
The asylum seeker showed Stallings cell phone video taken during the journey across a remote Central American jungle, pointing out migrants who died along the way.
“The heartbreaking part is seeing these beautiful young ladies become desensitized,” said her husband, Larkin Stallings, 66, an Oak Bluffs bar owner who sits on the nonprofit’s board. “For them, they just flip and show you a picture.”
Stallings cut him off.
“She was like, look, this one died, part of their original party. And he died and this one died. The mud is like to up to here to them,” she said Friday in the shade of the parish house porch, pointing to her thigh. “And you see them, they literally have to lift their legs out the mud. They die because they get stuck.”
During their whirlwind 44-hour visit this week, migrants like the young Venezuelan woman left an indelible mark on their accidental hosts in this isolated enclave known as a summer playground for former US presidents, celebrities and billionaires.
They were flown from Texas on Florida’s dime
The guests, including young children, boarded buses Friday morning around the corner from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.
Days of uncertainty on the small island off the coast of Massachusetts and a massive effort by locals to provide for them ended with a new odyssey — a ferry ride and then another bus caravan to temporary housing at Joint Base Cape Cod.
The asylum seekers — most of them from Venezuela — had been flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday under arrangements made by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — part of a series of moves by Republican governors to transport migrants to liberal cities to protest what they describe as the failure of the federal government to secure the southern border.
Martha’s Vineyard had not been expecting them but a small army of activists mobilized to help people who had become pawns in the contentious debate over America’s broken immigration system.
DeSantis’ move was sharply denounced by the White House, Democratic officials and immigration lawyers who vowed legal action on grounds, they said, the migrants were lured north with promises of work, housing and help with immigration papers and ultimately misled about their final destination.
Florida’s governor denied the migrants did not know where they were going. He said they had signed a waiver and had been provided with a packet that included a map of Martha’s Vineyard. “It’s obvious that’s where they were going,” he said, adding that the move was voluntary.
Lisa Belcastro, winter shelter coordinator for the Harbor Homes nonprofit, was close to tears about an hour after the migrants left the island on Friday, with volunteers beginning to clean up the parish house and church hall where the newcomers slept.
“I want them to have a good life,” she said. “I want the journey they experienced and the hardships they experienced to have been worth it for them and their families. I want them to come to America and be embraced. They all want to work. And I just I want their journey to have a happy ending.”
‘No one knew we were coming’
On Thursday night, a group of young male migrants congregated on the narrow street outside the church, just blocks from the glittering upscale shops, restaurants and art galleries on Main Street in Edgartown. One asylum seeker, in his early 20s, ventured down the street to explore at one point. He asked about the price of a hamburger at a fancy eatery. When told it was $26, he noted that was much more than he earned in a month in Venezuela when he could find work.
Through a front window in the parish house, young children could be seen in a playroom filled with books and stuffed animals.
Juan Ramirez, who is 24 but appears younger, stood outside the hall of the 123-year-old church — where 18 of the men slept on portable cots and inflatable mattresses under donated blankets for two nights. He teared up talking about the family he left behind in Táchira state in western Venezuela when he embarked on his journey in late July with his phone and $400 in cash.
“My friends thought I was crazy for leaving, that I would never make it. I only want a better future for my family,” he said of his parents, grandparents and his favorite niece back home. “I try but it’s hard not to think about them.”
The cash was long gone and his phone stolen by the time Ramirez reached northern Mexico and the border with the United States, he said.
Ramirez and other migrants said they were released by US immigration authorities with an order to return for a hearing. In San Antonio, they were approached by a woman who offered them a plane ride to a shelter in the Northeast where there would be housing, jobs and assistance with immigration papers. The migrants were put up in a hotel until about 50 of them were assembled for the flight to Massachusetts.
“When we landed no one was waiting for us,” he said. “No one knew we were coming. We realized they had lied to us. But, thankfully, we came upon kindhearted people who have supported us with everything we need.”
‘We’re all in this together’
Pedro Luis Torrealba, 37, said he left the Venezuelan capital of Caracas with his wife in mid July. Their two children — ages 6 and 11 — stayed behind with relatives.
The couple started the roadless crossing on the border between Colombia and Panama — the deadly Darién Gap — with more than 60 other migrants, Torrealba said outside the parish house on Thursday night. Only 22 completed the trek across the 60 miles of jungle and steep mountains, he said. Some fell from cliffs, others were swept away by flood waters.
Those deaths are occurring at a time when a record number of undocumented migrants are overwhelming the US-Mexico border and dying while attempting to cross.
In Mexico, Torrealba said, the couple and other migrants were briefly abducted by members of the Zetas cartel, a violent drug trafficking organization. When he told them he could not make the extortion payment to allow them to continue, he said, a cartel member used pliers to pull out his two gold teeth.
They finally made it across the US-Mexico earlier this month. In San Antonio, they encountered a woman who offered them a free flight to a place they had never heard of, along with a promise of immigration assistance, housing and employment. Torrealba did not receive treatment for the injuries to his mouth and jaw until they arrived on Martha’s Vineyard.
Another Venezuelan, David Bautista, 26, said he left San Cristóbal, the capital city of Táchira state, in late July. More than a month later he crossed the Rio Grande to Eagle Pass, Texas, from the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras. He said he was released by US immigration authorities after 11 days in detention. They gave him papers for an immigration hearing in Washington, DC.
At a migrant shelter in San Antonio, he too was offered the free flight and the benefits that supposedly came with it — including help with changing the date and location of his immigration hearing.
“I can’t tell you any more because I don’t know any more,” he said. “We’re all lost. We’re all in this together. We just know this is an island somewhere in the United States.”
Standing next to Bautista, a 52-year-old man named Osmar Cabral, who said he is from Portugal and has been living on Martha’s Vineyard for four months, handed the migrant a folded $100 bill.
“I’ve never met him before,” Cabral said. “But I came here with a friend because I wanted to help. We’re all brothers.”
His friend, Franklin Pierre, a Venezuelan who has lived on Martha’s Vineyard since 2015 and works for a party rental company, was there to speak with some migrants and offer them advice.
“You have to show up for your immigration hearing or you’ll be deported,” Pierre told Bautista and other young men gathered around him. “You’re arriving here after the busy summer season and work is hard to find. And winter is very cold, sometimes reaching 10 degrees below zero. Imagine that and not having work.”
A sweet gesture
At one point Thursday night, a group of lawyers who had interviewed the migrants told reporters outside the parish house that they were exploring legal action, claiming that due process and the civil rights of the migrants had been violated.
“This is a human rights violation. This is a constitutional violation,” Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director for Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston, said as volunteers and other supporters applauded. “And we will hold the states and perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law. This will not go unanswered.”
Some passersby recorded the scene on their cell phones.
Rachel Self, an immigration attorney from Boston, also drew applause.
“We’ve got their backs and they are not alone. And to that end, I would like to specifically thank Trader Fred for donating underwear because Martha’s Vineyard doesn’t have a Walmart down the street,” she said, referring to the migrants and a local retailer who stepped up to help them.
A bystander suddenly tossed a bag of chocolates.
“I brought the candy,” said Matt Frederick, 54, a local who said he works as a waiter and cab driver and lives in his car. He had been handing out bags of candy to the migrants on the street. He said he had spent $100 on the sweets.
“I just feel compassion,” he said, adding that he lives in his car because he refuses to pay the exorbitant rents on the island. “There are lot of people here who are struggling to get by. It’s not all rich people.”
On Friday, after the migrants had left Martha’s Vineyard, a volunteer with the Harbor Homes nonprofit, Sean O’Sullivan, disassembled the folding cots that 18 of the male migrants slept on in the parish hall.
“The year round community is very strong because you are kind of isolated here — whether it’s the ferry or the bad weather, you’re stuck here,” he said. “We’re used to helping each other. We’re used to dealing with people in need and we’re super happy — like they enriched us, we’re happy to help them on their journey.”
At the empty parish house hours after the migrants had departed, Charles Rus, the church organist and music director, said the place felt lonely.
“The governor of Florida got it wrong,” he said. “I think he thought we wouldn’t know what to do. And actually people here really give a damn. They really care.”
Jackie Stallings said she hopes to visit the migrants at the Cape Cod base, a temporary accommodation.
The migrants “will be housed in dormitory-style spaces . . . with separate spaces accommodating both individuals and families,” and families will not be separated, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office said in a news release. They will have access to services including legal, health care, food, hygiene kits, and crisis counseling.
“I kept telling them it was like a dormitory. I didn’t want to say you’re going to a military base,” she said. “We want to go make sure they’re OK.”
CNN’s Miguel Marquez, Carolyn Sung and Priscilla Alvarez contribuited to this report.
Martha’s Vineyard flights leave migrant advocates scrambling
Garcia, 27, a carpenter, was suspicious.
“To me, it was a false promise,” he said.
Migrant leaders say efforts by GOP governors from Florida and Texas to bus and fly out new arrivals to places like Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and D.C., have created an added level of confusion for migrants and stirred fears that they are being coerced with misleading offers to go elsewhere.
The city of San Antonio — where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chartered flights to transport 50 migrants out of state this week — said Saturday that it is advising migrants “not to accept rides or any other assistance from strangers” outside the Migrant Resource Center. Some of those who took the DeSantis flights say they were approached by a woman named Perla near the shelter. The city said signs have been posted providing a national human trafficking hotline number.
The shelter can house 700 people and has served more than 24,000 migrants since it opened in July, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Administration through December. But Catholic Charities is taking over operation from the city on Monday, after the group’s chief executive Antonio Fernandez expressed concerns about migrants being recruited at the site under false pretenses.
Fernandez said he plans to install security cameras and has instructed staff to be on the lookout for recruiters lingering outside.
“I am concerned. Who has been recruiting them? I don’t truly know,” he said. “It shows how the system is: They can take them anywhere by lying to them.”
The organization has hired 145 staff, plans to do away with the center’s three-day stay limit and offer more services. They will also rename it the “Centro de Bienvenida,” or welcoming center, and will offer food, clothing and case management. Fernandez said the shelter will not host buses provided by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Other migrant advocate groups are also jumping in to step up vigilance.
The League of United Latin American Citizens posted “Wanted” fliers at San Antonio shelters with a $5,000 reward for “information leading to a positive identification, arrest and conviction” of Perla, the woman migrants said approached them outside the city shelter.
The group’s national president, Domingo Garcia, said nine Venezuelan migrants in Martha’s Vineyard on Friday told him they spoke with Perla before boarding the flights.
“She promised them that they would get three months of work paid. Under immigration law, they are here under parole. They have a court date. It is illegal for them to work. So she is enticing them to work which is a federal offense. She is enticing them to break the law,” Garcia said.
Garcia said all of the migrants crossed the Rio Grande and were detained near the border city of Eagle Pass, Tex., before traveling to San Antonio. His group is sending volunteers to Eagle Pass this week to advise migrants of their rights, he said. They also plan to erect billboards for migrants along I-35 outside Eagle Pass and San Antonio, he said, “Warning stranger danger with people offering jobs and free transportation who are not legit refugee services.”
Other advocates have raised concerns about how the migrants in places like Cape Cod, Mass., will navigate their cases from afar. Rachel Self, a Boston lawyer aiding the migrants, said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released the migrants with forms falsely stating that they would reside at homeless shelters from Washington state to Florida, and then told them to check in at nearby immigration offices once they arrived.
She said the DHS forms, and Florida’s decision to fly them to Martha’s Vineyard, left migrants “terrified” of missing mandatory appointments and being ordered deported without a hearing.
In an interview Saturday, Self said immigration lawyers had managed to get extensions for the migrants to check in with immigration officials, and were trying to find lawyers to defend them against being deported. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which represents the government in deportation proceedings, did not respond to requests for comment Saturday.
Homeland Security officials pushed back on any notion of wrongdoing, saying Saturday they have nothing to do with the states’ transportation efforts and did not know which migrants had been taken to Martha’s Vineyard or what their forms said. Officials said migrants must declare a U.S. address before they are released and check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) until their cases are resolved.
Any information on the forms is based on what migrants have told the authorities, officials said.
Officials said they are also giving migrants electronic devices with instructions to use them to update their new addresses quickly to avoid missing appointments. DHS conducts background checks on migrants before releasing them to local shelters, nonprofits, or city services for help finding housing or transportation.
DHS officials criticized the Republican governors for failing to coordinate the arrival of buses and planes with state and local governments.
“DHS officials work around-the-clock to enforce our laws, process migrants appropriately, and care for those in custody. Unlike these governors, they are not in the business of using vulnerable men, women, and children as props for a political stunt,” said DHS spokesman Luis Miranda.
Self said lawyers have also called for a criminal investigation into the Florida flights and anticipate filing legal action in federal court “to prevent this from happening again.” She said advocates are also warning migrants in Texas and other border states to exercise caution when accepting rides, and avoid scenarios that sound “too good to be true.”
“They’re preying on a vulnerable population,” she said of the people who recruited the migrants to the Vineyard. “There were a lot of misrepresentations made here.”
Republicans have defended the action, saying border cities were experiencing influxes in even greater numbers. Federal border agents have made nearly 2 million apprehensions on the southern border this fiscal year, exceeding last year’s total.
Migrant bus transports from Texas to Washington continued Saturday: About 50 migrants, including a one-month-old baby, arrived to the residence of Vice President Harris. The bus sent by Abbott dropped the migrants, mostly Venezuelans, outside the Naval Observatory on Saturday morning. The Texas governor also sent three buses of migrants to New York City on Saturday.
Migrant advocates on the border were scrambling to ensure migrants were better informed about their rights and travel options, but said there were limits to what they could do.
Tiffany Burrow, operations director for the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition in Del Rio, Tex., said she had “major concerns” about the Martha’s Vineyard flights, calling them, “deceptive.”
“There’s nothing transparent with how that operation took place,” Burrow said.
She said her group is, “incorporating awareness of these kinds of possibilities within our orientation.” But she doesn’t discourage migrants from taking the free buses provided by Abbott.
“Ultimately the migrants decide if it is a good fit for their needs,” she said, noting the day shelter in the tiny border city, “can only do so much. Migrants are with us for such a short amount of time. Often less than half an hour … wherever the final destination is makes the most sense to gather that kind of in-depth assistance.”
The Rev. Gavin Rogers said volunteers from Travis Park Church’s Corazón Ministries try to help migrants they meet at the downtown bus station, but, “political operatives are finding people to recruit migrants to travel.”
“It’s really a form of human trafficking,” he said. “We try to tell people to follow what’s on their asylum paperwork, get to the city they need to get to,” to check in with federal immigration officials. “Ironically, migrants need transportation. The governors of Texas and Florida are so close to helping — if they just looked at the piece of paper that says where they need to be.”
Venezuelan migrant Mike Betancourt Vivas was outside the city shelter Saturday, trying find a ride to Washington state. He had crossed the border in Eagle Pass, but never saw the state buses. If he had the option, he said, he would take one.
“We need a way to get to our destination directly. People here shut the door and don’t give us opportunities, just like other countries, like Panama and Costa Rica,” he said.
Betancourt, 26, a construction worker and composer with a wife and two daughters stuck in Colombia, said he doesn’t care about being a political pawn if it gets him a free ride to Washington.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I just want to go.”
On Martha’s Vineyard, a migrant and a resident are thrown together
Earlier this week, these two lives intersected in an improbable chapter in America’s bitter debate over immigration. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) chartered two planes to fly a group of migrants from Texas to this small island in Massachusetts, which serves as a summer retreat for the liberal elite.
The point, he and other Republican officials have said, was to draw attention to rising numbers of migrant arrivals and make Democratic-led states share the burden of caring for them. Democrats decried the flights as a stunt that used human beings as political pawns.
But for Aguero and Lima, the political fights were far away. He never imagined he might end up in a place like Martha’s Vineyard. Lima never expected that such desperate journeys would lead to her island, but when they did, she jumped in to help.
Later, some of the migrants would tell her it turned out to be un golpe de buena suerte — a stroke of good luck — that they had landed there.
On Friday morning, Lima helped tick off names as the nearly 50 migrants boarded buses that would take them from the church where they had spent two nights to a ferry bound for the mainland. From there, they would be transported to a military base on Cape Cod.
They now had full bags and new cellphones. Many wore purple long-sleeved shirts from Martha’s Vineyard High School. As the migrants said goodbye to the local volunteers who had provided them with food and shelter, many in the group cried. Watching them leave, Lima cried too.
“You just hope that they land where they’re supposed to,” she said. “And that they encounter good people along the way.”
Aguero made a peace sign with his fingers as he boarded the bus. “Thank you all,” he said in Spanish. “Without these people here, I don’t know where we’d be.”
He had awakened before 7 that morning, his second full night of sleep after weeks of getting little. After the initial shock of landing not in Boston, Washington, D.C., or New York, as most of the migrants had expected, Aguero began to relax. The island was beautiful, he was safe and so was his wife, Maria. After two months of danger, he could breathe.
Aguero spent his life in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. The economic crisis and political unrest gripping the country pushed nearly the entire population into poverty, including his family. Millions have fled. Aguero, too, began searching for a way out.
There was one, but it was dangerous. Aguero and his wife left Venezuela in July hoping to reach the United States. For weeks, they had nowhere to sleep. At one point, they were sent from Chile back to Colombia. From there, they traveled through all of Central America. Finally, after riding a notoriously dangerous train through Mexico, they reached the Rio Grande.
He and Maria knew how to swim and believed they would make it across. They tied themselves together with others in the group, entered the murky waters and made it safely to land. They were now in the United States, but didn’t have money, clothes or a phone.
Aguero and his wife were eventually taken by immigration agents to San Antonio, where they were reunited with Aguero’s 23-year-old brother Rafael, who had begun his journey northward a few weeks earlier. The couple spent 72 hours in a migrant aid center before being put out on the street, where they joined Rafael, who was scraping together cash to buy food by working whatever odd jobs he could find.
A blond-haired woman approached the trio on the streets of San Antonio and introduced herself as “Perla.” She asked if they needed help. She offered them a hotel room while she made plans to take them elsewhere. Days later, Aguero, Maria and Rafael boarded a plane to an unknown destination.
He only found out where they were going when the pilot came over the loudspeaker announcing they would soon arrive on Martha’s Vineyard.
When Aguero’s plane was landing, Lima was in front of her computer for an afternoon full of email correspondence, followed by a Zoom meeting. When the meeting was over, she dashed out the door to meet a group of friends for dinner at 19 Raw, an oyster bar in nearby Edgartown.
Lima was born in New York to Bolivian immigrant parents. When she was growing up, her family sometimes spent vacations on Martha’s Vineyard. Lima’s elder sister, a chef, later settled there, as did Lima, joining a community of about 20,000 year-round residents. Seven years ago, she began volunteering with the local homeless shelter.
As dinner wrapped up, Lima finally checked her phone. She saw text messages asking if she was able to help interpret for a group of migrants who had arrived at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, which was just around the corner from the restaurant.
She went straight over. The volunteer effort was in full swing. The first man she spoke with began telling her his story. He had walked most of the way through Central America. He rode a freight train infamous for danger and violence — known as La Bestia — through Mexico. He faced hunger and corrupt officials and gangs.
That first night was spent trying to reassure people who didn’t understand where they were, Lima said. She tried to let them know they were in good hands, but also that they were free to go if they wished.
She was back the following morning at 6:30. It didn’t matter that she had to work to do — she wanted to show the migrants that they were welcome. She spent the next 15 hours there, helping manage a stream of volunteers, donors and reporters. She started making an Excel spreadsheet of what people had offered to donate: blankets, spare rooms, books, diapers, legal help, therapy.
In the evening, she pulled up an empty gray foldable chair next to her and invited the migrants to talk about what they’d gone through. She heard about people getting robbed and tricked and watching their friends struggle to survive. So many had started the journey with more people. Some were kidnapped or drowned or died of dehydration.
Since the moment she heard about the arrival of the migrants, Lima had been in a whir of motion. “Then you have moments when you’re hearing the stories,” she said. Those are “moments where your heart stops.”
Friday morning began with breakfast provided by a nearby golf course. Meanwhile, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) had arranged for voluntary transportation to Joint Base Cape Cod, a military base that is designated as an emergency shelter. The state has said it will provide the migrants with food as well as access to health care and legal help.
Lima had spoken only briefly to Aguero and his family. On Friday, she noted his name as he approached the bus and hugged him. She spent the rest of the morning helping to clean up the church — stripping beds, emptying the fridge, picking up bottles of water. By early afternoon she was back home and opening her laptop.
Aguero stepped on to the bus. Clutched tightly in his hand was a new cellphone provided by a local social services organization. Less than a half-hour later, the buses arrived at the Vineyard Haven port. The sky was a clear blue and the water was dotted with sailboats. “This is beautiful,” Aguero said, pointing to the harbor.
On the ferry to the mainland, Aguero and his brother were in high spirits, making videos as the boat skimmed across the water. The two brothers stood side-by-side and looked out to the sea.
The waters now seemed friendlier than they did when Aguero had landed at the airport two days earlier. He still didn’t know exactly where they were going. Some of his fellow migrants had learned from volunteers that they would be staying on a military base. They didn’t know what that would mean, how long they would stay there or how safe they would be. On their long journeys to the United States, military officials had not always been friendly.
Aguero wasn’t nervous about what was next, he said, because he was in America. Even with all the confusion of the past few days, everything would work out.
Rosenzweig-Ziff reported from Edgartown, Mass. Slater reported from Williamstown, Mass.