Texas sheriff opens criminal probe into migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard: ‘It’s wrong’

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the migrants were "lured under false pretenses" on the streets of San Antonio to be flown and "stranded" in Martha's Vineyard.

A Texas county sheriff is opening a criminal investigation into flights that carried dozens of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, from Texas last week, an act that Florida’s Republican governor took credit for and which the White House dubbed a political stunt.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a news conference on Monday that around 50 migrants were “lured under false pretenses” on the streets of San Antonio, put up in a hotel, bused to planes and “stranded unceremoniously in Martha’s Vineyard,” a wealthy vacation island, “for nothing other than a photo op.”

San Antonio is the biggest city in Bexar County.

“What infuriates me most about this case is that we have 48 people who are already on hard times,” Salazar said. “I believe they were preyed upon.”

Salazar, a Democrat, said his move was not related to his party affiliation. “It’s wrong from a human rights perspective. What was done to these folks was wrong.”

A spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said immigrants have been “more than willing to leave Bexar County after being abandoned.”

“Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected,” DeSantis’ communications director, Taryn Fenske, said in an emailed statement.

Salazar said his office was working with advocacy organizations and private attorneys representing the victims and could coordinate with federal authorities as needed.