By EFE
A 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, without permission to work in the United States, received $700 as payment for helping to reunite his compatriots who were sent by plane from Texas to the island of Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts, as part of a program of the Governor of Florida, Republican Ron DeSantis.
According to the Miami Herald newspaper, Emmanuel, as the Venezuelan migrant identified himself, received three payments for helping in the controversial transfer of immigrants that has generated several investigations by the United States Department of the Treasury and local authorities in Texas.
The Venezuelan said he was hired by Perla Huerta, a former United States Army soldier who has been identified as the person who last month persuaded fifty Venezuelan migrants in Texas to move north.
The former recruiter, Emmanuel, 27, (last name withheld) has been flown to various locations by his attorneys since returning to San Antonio. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
A Florida law prohibits government agencies and their contractors and subcontractors from hiring staff without checking with Immigration if they have authorization to do so.
The law was promoted by Republican DeSantis in a broader version that included private companies, but it failed due to pressure from immigration organizations and Florida businessmen, who see immigrants as labor for agriculture and hospitality.
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The Venezuelan also told the aforementioned newspaper that Huerta had bought him a plane ticket from San Antonio (Texas) to Florida.
For the transfer of Venezuelan immigrants, DeSantis used funds authorized by the Florida Legislature for the flight from San Antonio (Texas) to Martha's Vineyard Island.
The Venezuelan, in the same way, said that he collaborates with the Sheriff of Bexar County (Texas), Javier Salazar, who is investigating the incident.