Clash over Martha’s Vineyard migrant threat
Summer on Martha’s Vineyard is already sizzling … in the news.
Boston Rep. Ayanna Pressley is slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his threat to send Haitian migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
“That DeSantis would continue exploiting vulnerable families is unconscionable but unsurprising from a failed presidential candidate seeking to stay relevant,” said Pressley, co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus.
DeSantis did it once and he said on a podcast he won’t hesitate to send migrants to Massachusetts again.
“We do have our transport program also that’s going to be operational,” DeSantis said Tuesday on
Dana Loesch‘s podcast. “Haitians land in the Florida Keys — their next stop very well may be Martha’s Vineyard.”
Fox News reported that Haitians fleeing the gang-controlled nation are heading to South Florida to escape starvation and even death. That’s a perilous roughly 850-mile trip by boat and DeSantis said he’s taking steps to thwart them.
Pressley said yesterday she’s urging the Biden administration to redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and pause all deportation flights to Haiti until conditions improve.
“It is far past time to take federal action to stabilize Haiti and save lives,” she said in a statement. “That means immediately halting deportations to the island, redesignating TPS for Haiti, cracking down on arms trafficking to Haiti, supporting a Haitian-led democratic transition, and providing the security, humanitarian, and economic assistance that the island needs.”
Dozens of migrants were flown to Martha’s Vineyard from Florida in September of 2022.
At the time, DeSantis said the flight was made in order to send the illegal immigrants to “greener pastures” to northern sanctuary cities.
“We are not a sanctuary state,” the Florida governor said then. “And it’s better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction. And yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures.”