Migrants Flown to Massachusetts by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Bused to Washington, D. C. by Governor Greg Abbott Have Nexus with Eagle Pass, File Lawsuit
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2022
A group of 50 Venezuelan migrants, including women, children, and men, fleeing from persecution in their home country under the rule of President Nicolas Maduro detained in or near Eagle Pass, Texas by U. S. Border Patrol Officers, seeking legal asylum in the United States, fell victim to a cruel, inhumane political stunt by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for re-election in November and aspires to the Republican Party Nomination for President in 2024, as they were recruited by unknown individuals working for or with the State of Florida using false misrepresentations outside the San Antonio Migrant Processing Center and were flown via two private-chartered jets paid by Florida from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts without notifying the resort island of their arrival.
League of United Latin American Citizens (“LULAC”) national president Domingo Garcia visited the Venezuelan migrants in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts and learned that they had been detained in or near Eagle Pass, Texas and processed by the U. S. Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Soft-Sided Migrant Processing Center in Eagle Pass near the Radar Base (12 miles north) and released to the Mission: Border Hope, a non-governmental organization, located at 3295 Del Rio Blvd. in Eagle Pass for assistance in reaching their intended destinations and orientation in the United States as well as contacting family members and transportation to San Antonio, Texas to the larger Migrant Processing Center. Eagle Pass is the point of origin of this tragic migrant saga in the United States.
Garcia stated the Venezuelan migrants were recruited by unknown individuals working with or for Florida or organizations working with Florida at the San Antonio Migrant Processing Center with misrepresentations that they would be provided food, housing, jobs, and money once they arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, which were totally false as they were flown instead to Martha’s Vineyard and local authorities were never notified of the incoming migrants until after they had to walk several miles to a charitable organization seeking assistance.
The citizens and authorities of Martha’s Vineyard were surprised by Florida’s transportation of these migrants to their community, but swiftly organized themselves and welcomed the Venezuelan migrants by providing them assistance. The State of Massachusetts two days later transferred the migrants to a camp in Cape Cod with greater capabilities to assist them.
Garcia also visited asylum migrants bused by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to Vice-President Kamala Harris residence at the U. S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D. C. and learned these migrants had been detained in or near Eagle Pass, Texas. Governor Abbott under his controversial $4 Billion Operation Lone Star Program has bused over 10,000 migrants to New York City, Washington, D. C., and Chicago at a cost averaging $1,700 per migrant, while a Greyhound or other bus company ticket costs between $219 to $301 per person, spending over $12 million of Texas taxpayers funds to date for busing migrants.
Garcia organized a peaceful and nonviolent civil disobedience protest by members of LULAC on Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 12 Noon at the Mission: Border Hope in Eagle Pass, Texas to bring awareness to the inhumane treatment provided to asylum migrants by Governors DeSantis and Abbott and their use of them as “political piñatas” or pawns in their personal political self-interests.
Garcia and LULAC notified the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and local law enforcement agencies of their intended plans. A LULAC charter bus with about 20-25 members arrived in Eagle Pass and was greeted by DPS Officers, proceeding to peacefully holding the protest on the sidewalk of Del Rio Blvd. in front of the Mission: Border Hope facility for about three hours. Garcia and four LULAC members were invited and welcomed into the Mission: Border Hope’s migrant processing facility and allowed to speak with migrants awaiting transportation to San Antonio or their desired destinations and advised them of their legal rights in the United States.
Garcia and LULAC successfully negotiated with Mission: Border Hope to provide transportation free of charge to about 25-30 migrants, including women, children, and men, to San Antonio as a gesture of goodwill and humanitarian assistance. The migrants boarded the LULAC chartered bus and departed anxiously on their journey to San Antonio where they were to receive further assistance in reaching their desired destinations.
Subsequently and totally separately from LULAC’s visit to Eagle Pass, three Venezuelan migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts last week by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis filed a federal class action lawsuit against Governor DeSantis, other Florida officials, and unknown individuals on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, alleging that they were misrepresented to with false promises of work, housing, food, and money to travel by airplane to Martha’s Vineyard under a “designed and executed and premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme centered on exploiting this vulnerability for the sole purpose of advancing their own personal, financial, and political interests.” The migrants further allege DeSantis and other defendants violated their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments rights, including illegal search and seizure and due process rights.
Migrants who are processed by CBP for asylum are legally allowed to remain in the United States until their asylum petitions are heard and decided by a U. S. Immigration Court, but they are not allowed to work.
The Venezuelan migrants are seeking damages, an injunction against Governor DeSantis and the State of Florida from coercing immigrants to travel by “fraud and misrepresentation.”
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has opened an investigation to determine if any criminal violations occurred by the fraudulent misrepresentations used by individuals to recruit the Venezuelan migrants to travel from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard.
LULAC has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identity and location of a woman going by the name of “Perla,” who recruited Venezuelan migrants for the Massachusetts flights outside the San Antonio Migrant Processing Center.
The political stunts orchestrated by Governors DeSantis and Abbott have received widespread criticism from New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Washington, D. C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Vice-President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, and many religious and civic leaders in the United States as being inhumane, cruel, and political grandstanding.
While migrants fleeing persecution from countries all over the world continue to arrive in the United States, particularly the U. S.-Mexico border, Eagle Pass has sprung to the forefront of the immigration crisis with a mixed blessing of increased state and federal funding for programs designed to protect the safety of the community and benefitting the local economy versus the increased political scrutiny and risks associated with said notoriety.
