The day after Florida took credit for sending two planeloads of undocumented immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested the flights were to “protect” the state while the backlash swelled, with critics decrying the flights as an inhumane political stunt.
The political furor mounted as human rights advocates rushed to the popular Massachusetts island vacation spot to help the mostly Venezuelan migrants who, for now, were being housed in a church.
“It is unconscionable to treat human beings — especially members of such a vulnerable population — like pawns to make a political point,” said a statement by Boston-based group Lawyers for Civil Rights, which announced it was gathering immigration specialists, social service providers and attorneys to meet with the migrants free of charge, and would be investigating whether they were the victims of “human trafficking and kidnapping.”
