Texas sheriff’s probe of DeSantis’ heartless Vineyard stunt a long shot, but could unearth answers | Editorial

The legality of what occurred last week, when a group of 48 Venezuelans were flown from Texas and dumped on swanky Martha’s Vineyard — a heartless relocation effort financed by the state of Florida and crowed about by Gov. Ron DeSantis — is being investigated. Good, we need more answers, since it appears DeSantis has moved on, saying less and less about the misguided stunt.

Whether there’ll be enough evidence to file criminal charges probably is a long shot. Still, we might get to the bottom of the governor’s sinister plot — that’s no cliche — to fly unsuspecting immigrants from another state to a third state.

Texas Sheriff Javier Salazar is responding to DeSantis’ stunt with what could be a stunt of his own. And the immigrants in question are also firing their own salvo.

Late Tuesday, they filed a class-action suit against DeSantis and Florida, claiming what was done to them was “cruelty akin to what they fled” in Venezuela. The story went viral.

Now Florida seems to be rethinking continuing its stunt, which cost $612,000 per flight to taxpayers. Could it be the backlash against this cruel joke?

Salazar, a well-known Democrat working in Bexar County, said on Facebook his team is working with the attorneys representing the migrants flown from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard to establish if any laws were broken and, if so, who should be charged.

DeSantis maintains he’s proud of this scheme, which has won him national attention.

And Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ rapid-response campaign director, tweeted a challenge to Salazar.

“And what criminal statutes does the Sheriff cite that he believes were violated?”

None, yet. But how about the “law” of human decency?

Pushaw is right about one thing: Criminal charges are a stretch. But bamboozling and deception did occur.

Attorneys say the migrants were fed false promises of jobs and housing in a sanctuary state. But the people of Martha’s Vineyard had no idea private charter flights planned to bring the immigrants to the island. After they were shown kindnesses by Vineyard residents, the group was then shuttled to a military base on Cape Cod.

The brouhaha over the Martha’s Vineyard flights continued Tuesday with speculation that Delaware, President Joe Biden’s home state, is a potential site for more immigrant arrivals. The practice has been going on in New York, where the governors of Texas and Nevada have bused other immigrants.

By the way, the immigrants in question are not illegal. They were processed at the border, given parole and dates for court hearings.

“What infuriates me the most is that we have 48 people here legally — they have every right to be here — and they were preyed upon,” Salazar said. “Lured with promises of a better life and with the knowledge they would cling to anything that was offered for a better life and were exploited and “hoodwinked” to make the trip to Florida for what I believe was political posturing.”

True.

Even if it doesn’t generate criminal charges, an investigation could dissect the genesis of this mean-spirited con. Tricking people at such a vulnerable point in their lives is cruel. The Editorial Board fully recognizes that our immigration policy at the border is broken and has been for years, but targeting vulnerable migrants is no fix.

And Florida taxpayers paid for all this. The state Legislature approved $12 million to export illegal immigrants from Florida. Yet, these immigrants were not in Florida, except for a fuel stop — to justify the use of state funds? — on the way to Massachusetts.

But DeSantis and his enablers didn’t let facts get in the way. This was a concocted event designed to enhance DeSantis’ image as a slayer of woke-ism and affirm that Florida is a state unfriendly to some immigrants.

We commend Salazar for standing up to the DeSantis machine, gearing up for the 2024 presidential race.

Migrant advocates constantly warn that non-citizens such as the hoodwinked immigrants are vulnerable to scams. Heartless fraudsters exploit immigrants’ hopes of obtaining legal status or play on their fears of being deported. Some pretend to be immigration officers and demand money.

Who would have thought that Florida’s governor would proudly join their ranks?

This story was originally published September 21, 2022 at 4:00 AM.