Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has taken on the responsibility of sending two migrant planes to a luxury island in the northeastern United States, becoming the last politician to date to fly immigrants to Democratic strongholds across the country.
A group of about 50 Venezuelan immigrants, including children, arrived Wednesday at Martha’s Vineyard, a private resort home to the Kennedys, Clintons and Obamas, according to local newspaper MV Times.
Although the governor of Florida organized this transport, the planes with the immigrants came from Texas, not his home state, according to the newspaper.
Dylan Fernandes, a local Democratic lawmaker, tweeted late Wednesday, “Immigrants are being brought from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard on charter flights. Many don’t know where they are. They say they’ve been told they’ll be given housing and jobs.”
“Our island was mobilized to provide beds, food and care,” he explained. He added that residents were not given advance notice of the arrival of these people.
Immigration policy, a sensitive issue in the United States, is even more sensitive a few weeks before the midterm elections, when Republicans accused President Joe Biden of turning the Mexican border into a filter.
DeSantis, who took responsibility for this move with the voice of his team members, thus joins as a political gesture in a movement launched by the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona determined to send immigrants to Democratic cities in the north and east of the country. aimed at its voters.
The Florida governor is campaigning for reelection in November and is also seen as a potential contender to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 White House race.
“The residents of Martha’s Vineyard must be excited,” Christina Pushaw from DeSantis’ communications team jokingly said on Twitter on Wednesday. “Illegal immigrants will make the city more diverse, which is a strong point, right?”
According to FoxNews, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is at the forefront of this initiative and is also campaigning for his reelection, sent two migrant buses near the home of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who arrived in Washington on Thursday morning.
Moving these immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard and Washington was “a necessity”, said Republican Andy Biggs, Arizona’s representative in the lower house of the US Congress. “Democratic leaders need to get down from their ivory towers and face the facts.”
Texas has sent nearly 10,000 immigrants to Washington, New York and more recently Chicago since April, according to the governor’s office.
source: Noticias
