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Massachusetts mobilizes the National Guard and shelters migrants sent by Florida to Martha's Vineyard in a military base

2022-09-16T16:07:18.656Z


Analysts interpret the transfer of asylum seekers by the governors of Texas and Florida in an electoral key. Biden claims that he is "un-American and reckless."


The governor of Massachusetts, Democrat Charlie Baker, announced this Friday that he will offer shelter and humanitarian support to the nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants, including children, who arrived on the island of Martha's Vineyard on Wednesday, sent on planes by the governor of Florida, Republican Ron De Santis, adding that he will activate 125 members of the National Guard to help.

Baker detailed in a statement that it will enable shelters at the Cap Cod military base, and that the state Emergency Management Agency has coordinated with local authorities to guarantee food and essential services to asylum seekers sent by Florida from San Antonio ( Texas).

He guaranteed that families will not be separated, but there will be different spaces for single people and families.

A group of migrants gather outside St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on Thursday. Jonathan Wiggs/Boston Globe via Getty Images

The migrants were bussed Friday to the military base, which was used in 2005 to house people displaced in Louisiana by Hurricane Katrina, and served as a hospital in the worst months of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Although their arrival on Martha's Vineyard was unexpected, the extraordinary response was not,” said State Secretary of Public Safety Terrence Reidy, praising the actions of citizens and authorities;

he promised "safe shelter, food and care to people who went through a long harrowing journey." 

Migrants sent from Texas to New York struggle to access health services and shelters

Sept.

16, 202202:33

The migrants hardly knew where they had arrived, according to what they told Noticias Telemundo.

They crossed the border into Texas and, after ending up in a San Antonio shelter and hotel, were offered a release.

“I was in the hotel with 50 other people and we are leaving.

We got together in a truck, they put us on a plane and brought us here,” said one.

Lisa Belcastro, director of a Martha's Vineyard homeless organization, said the island -- where the median home price is $800,000 -- can't house the migrants because of a lack of affordable housing.

President Joe Biden on Thursday criticized the Republican governors of Texas, Arizona and Florida for sending asylum seekers from the border to cities governed by Democrats such as Chicago, New York, Washington DC, and now Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts. .

"What they are doing is simply wrong. It is un-American and reckless," he condemned, "they should not interfere in the [asylum] process with political maneuvering."

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, asked the Justice Department on Thursday to open an investigation into "possible criminal or civil violations" for sending migrants to Martha's Vineyard "for political purposes."

Texas Governor Sends Migrant Buses to Kamala Harris' Home

Sept.

15, 202204:04

"Clearly, transporting families, including children, across states under false pretenses is morally reprehensible, but it may also be illegal," he said in a letter to the Justice Department, condemning the use of children "as political pawns."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took responsibility for sending the migrants to Martha's Vineyard, while his Texan counterpart, Greg Abbott, denied he had anything to do with it.

It was he, however, who initiated these transfers, in April, and has already sent more than 8,000 asylum seekers to Washington DC, Chicago and New York.

On Thursday, two buses arrived from Texas with a hundred migrants at the gates of the residence of the vice president, Kamala Harris, in the capital.

Florida threatened this Friday to transfer migrants to the state of Delaware, where Biden is from, according to Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Núñez.

The National Guard is mobilized to assist hundreds of migrants in Illinois

Sept.

15, 202201:38

These transfers of migrants take place a few weeks before the mid-term elections, in which many of these governors risk their continuity.

The controversy has given them national relevance, turning immigration into the axis of political debate, compared to other issues such as the right to abortion.

In addition, some of these governors may aspire to a presidential candidacy, according to experts told the NBC News network.

“DeSantis has two campaigns: for governor and for the White House.

This was for the presidential campaign,” said former congressman Carlos Curbelo, a moderate Republican from Miami.

"He doesn't have much to gain for the gubernatorial campaign," Curbelo said, "he probably figured he doesn't have much to lose."

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-09-16

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