DeSantis Fires Back At TX Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation, Says Immigrants “Signed Consent Forms,” Received Information On Local Services

Bexar County, TX Sheriff Javier Salazar announced that he is opening a criminal investigation into FL Governor DeSantis for sending 48 illegal Venezuelan immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard. He says he believes they were “lured under false pretenses,” then “unceremoniously stranded” and “left to fend for themselves” in Martha’s Vineyard, one of the wealthiest, most exclusive, and most idilic sanctuary destinations in the nation.

DeSantis fired back at these accusations in both a statement from his office and in a segment on Sean Hannity’s Fox show. In the statement, DeSantis’s communications director Taryn Fenske explained that “Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them.” That is supposed to be the nature of a so-called “sanctuary” city. Fenske then torches Bexar’s Sheriff by bringing up the 53 illegal immigrants who died in a truck this summer in Bexar County, saying that the immigrants who were relocated to Martha’s Vineyard, despite being removed by the Massachusetts National Guard, at least 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.” OH SNAP!

On Hannity, Governor DeSantis explained that the entire process was voluntary and the immigrants received very humane treatment and considerations. Additionally, “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 had the numbers for different services on Martha’s Vineyard, then it had numbers for the overall agendas in Massachusetts that handle things involving immigration and refugees.” So they weren’t just unceremoniously stranded and left to fend for themselves. They were given information and resources to prepare them for their arrival and help them get in contact with the people who claim to be there to help.

Seems kind of weird that this Sheriff is trying to investigate a sitting governor who humanely relocated illegal immigrants from a bad situation to a significantly better situation in one of the wealthiest sanctuary destinations in the nation, while coyotes and cartels are routinely engaging in actual human trafficking in his very own county. How do you think those 53 immigrants ended up in that truck, left to die in the Texas heat? The fact that Martha’s Vineyard was apparently all talk when it came to their welcoming of the illegal immigrants, and ended up expelling them in 44 hours, doesn’t mean Gov. DeSantis did something horrifying to the immigrants by relocating them to Martha’s Vineyard. As DeSantis said,

“Had [Martha’s Vineyard] lived up to what they billed themselves out as, a sanctuary jurisdiction, they could have absorbed those people without a problem.”

One of the most significant accusations is that DeSantis tricked the immigrants with false promises of job opportunities in Martha’s Vineyard when there were no such opportunities available. Interestingly, the classified ads of the Vineyard Gazette listed more than 50 job opportunities in the very same printing in which they ran a story about what they called “stranded migrants.” Job opportunities included manual labor, custodial, landscaping, food industry, technician, library positions, and various retail positions. The local upscale YMCA, which is located close to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church where the illegal immigrants spent their single night on the ritzy island, had multiple job openings, as did Martha’s Vineyard Community Services. So what was wrong with all those job opportunities? Are they just not available to illegal immigrants?