DeSantis criticized for sending migrants to Martha’s Vineyard: ‘It’s un-American’

Volunteers prepare food for immigrants outside St Andrews Episcopal church, in Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard Photograph: Ron Schloerb/AP

Joe Biden has accused Ron DeSantis of “playing politics with people’s lives” for flying Venezuelan migrants to the wealthy liberal island community of Martha’s Vineyard without warning, while the legality of the Florida governor’s move is also under scrutiny.

In what immigration activists and Democratic politicians have decried as a “political stunt”, DeSantis, who is expected to run for the Republican party’s presidential nomination in 2024, arranged for two charter planes of about 50 migrant adults and children to fly from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday.