A Texas County Sheriff announced Monday that his office was opening an investigation into the transportation of two planes filled with migrants that were sent to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said in a statement Monday that his office will investigate if a crime took place when the 48 migrants from Venezuela were flown to the wealthy Massachusetts enclave.
In his statement, Salazar claimed the migrants were "lured, under false pretenses into staying at a hotel for a couple of days, at a point they were shuttled to an airplane where they were flown to Florida and then to Martha's Vineyard under false pretenses."
Salazar said another Venezuelan migrant was paid "what we would call a bird dog fee" to recruit the migrants.
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Salazar, an elected Democrat, didn't say what laws may have been broken. he said investigators had so far only spoken to attorneys representing some of the migrants and did not name any potential suspects who might face charges.
He also did not mention DeSantis in a news conference that appeared to mark the first time a law enforcement official has said they would look into the flights.
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"I believe there is some criminal activity involved here," Salazar said. "But at present we are trying to keep an open mind and we are going to investigate to find out what exact laws were broken if that does turn out to be the case."
DeSantis' office responded with a statement that said the migrants had been given more options to succeed in Massachusetts.
“Immigrants have been more than willing to leave Bexar County after being abandoned, homeless, and ‘left to fend for themselves,'" DeSantis' Communications Director, Taryn Fenske, said in a statement Monday. "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."
Records showed the two charter jets flew from San Antonio, Texas to Crestview, Florida Wednesday morning. Both landed in Martha's Vineyard shortly after 3 p.m.
Fenske said Wednesday said the move was part of an effort to “transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.”
DeSantis took credit for the flights, while Democrats denounced his actions. The migrants said they were told they were going to Boston, and an immigration attorney said the migrants had "no idea of where they were going or where they were."
The migrants have become the focus of a political fight. Last week, after landing in Martha’s Vineyard, they were taken to a military base near Cape Cod, a shelter as they navigate the immigration process.
At a news conference Tuesday, DeSantis said that migrants voluntarily went to Martha's Vineyard and claimed they were suffering under the Biden administration's border policies.
"Those migrants were being treated horribly by Biden, they were hungry, homeless, they had no opportunity at all. State of Florida, it was volunteer, offered transport to sanctuary jurisdictions," DeSantis said. "They were provided an ability to be in the most posh sanctuary jurisdiction maybe in the world and obviously it's sad that Martha's Vineyard people deported them the next day, they could have absorbed this, they chose not to. But what it shows is if 50 was a burden on one of the richest places in our country, what about all these other communities that have been overrun with hundreds or thousands?"
DeSantis accused the Biden administration of ignoring the problem at the border.
"He inherited a border that wasn't like this, he has created the crisis," he said.
Meanwhile, Tallahassee Democrats are insisting DeSantis was out of line, legally, by sending the group of migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.
On Monday, House Democrats sent a letter to Republican leadership, asking them to instruct the governor to stop using tax dollars to fly migrants around the country, especially when they have no connection to Florida.
The state budget designates $12 million for transportation of undocumented immigrants. It says the item is specifically designed to "implement a program to facilitate the transportation of unauthorized aliens from this state consistent with federal law."
Democrats said the group of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, was not unauthorized, insisting they’re in America legally, going through the immigration process.
“By all accounts, and everything that we have learned, these are folks who are seeking asylum from persecution in Venezuela,” said Tampa State Rep. Fentrice Driskell.
The Governor’s office is refusing to answer specific questions, like what is the state’s connection to the matter, also questioning the purpose of a payment of more than $600,000 Florida tax dollars to a charter an airline company.
DeSantis has been loud In his criticism of the Biden Administration, saying it’s failing on border security.
“The legislature gave me $12 million, we are going to spend every penny of that to make sure that we are protecting the people of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at a recent news conference.
“You wonder what Governor DeSantis‘s strategy was here,” said NBC 6 News political analyst Carlos Curbelo.
“Did he overreach, or is this the type of fight with the left he relishes, he wants to draw attention to the issue of illegal immigration," Curbelo said.
DeSantis said Tuesday that sending the planes to Martha's Vineyard was not a solution to the problem.
"It's already made more of an impact than anyone thought it could possibly make but we're gonna continue to make more of an impact," DeSantis said. "At the end of the day, what we're doing is not the ultimate solution, I think it's opening peoples' eyes to the solution which is let's have a secure border, let's have 'Remain in Mexico,' let's take the cartels seriously and let's get with the program here."
