Migrants move from Martha's Vineyard plus did DeSantis hint flight to donors

DeSantis says he will be sending more migrants north

More flights to send Venezuelan immigrants to out-of-state “sanctuary” communities will be coming, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.

“There's also going to be buses, and there will likely be more flights,” said DeSantis in Daytona Beach. “But I'll tell you this, the Legislature gave me $12 million. We're going to spend every penny of that to make sure that we're protecting the people of the state of Florida.”

DeSantis was referring to $12 million the Florida Legislature appropriated this year to cover the cost of transporting migrants out of Florida if they are apprehended at the border and brought to the state.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: He has been telegraphing Martha's Vineyard migrant flights for months

FROM USA TODAY Network-Florida:

Report: DeSantis hinted to donors last week that he'd send migrants to Vineyard

The people of Martha's Vineyard may have had no idea that 50 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, would arrive on their island Wednesday, but the Washington Post reports that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tipped off donors about his plan.

“I do have this money. I want to be helpful. Maybe we will go to Texas and help. Maybe we’ll send to Chicago, Hollywood, Martha’s Vineyard. Who knows?” the Post quoted DeSantis saying during a speech to top Republican donors Friday night at the Four Seasons in Orlando.

The Post attributed its information to a "detailed account by a person who was in the room," and said it was confirmed by a second person. Both sources spoke on the condition of an anonymity in disclosing what happened at the private event.

According to the Post, DeSantis said that the point of sending migrants to Martha’s Vineyard and other places was to send a political message. DeSantis called similar efforts by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) “brilliant,” the Post reported.

“I think it’s been very effective,” he said, according to the report.

Read the full Washington Post story

Who is Lisa BelCastro?

Lisa BelCastro lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her family, and is the winter shelter coordinator for Harbor Homes Martha’s Vineyard. Harbor Homes offers homeless prevention programs and services for low-income residents.

Who is Rachel Self?

Rachel Self is an immigration and criminal defense lawyer based in Boston. Self is a legal analyst for the Fox News Channel and CNN, according to her website.

Migrants arrive at Joint Base Cape Cod

JOINT BASE CAPE COD — Shortly after noon on Friday, a group of migrants, mostly originating from Venezuela, arrived at their new temporary home on Cape Cod.

Massachusetts officials had been working to house, feed and support the group of about 50 people since their unexpected arrival on Martha's Vineyard on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that the migrants were flown to Martha's Vineyard as part of the governor's "promise to drop off undocumented migrants in progressive states."

On Friday, the group left St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Edgartown, where they had been sheltering, and boarded Martha’s Vineyard Regional Transit buses bound for the Vineyard Haven ferry terminal.

Local police and staff with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency made way for the procession of people to board the buses. As they passed flashing cameras clutching bags, each person stopped to bid farewell to the islanders who had welcomed them.

At the ferry terminal, migrant Everlides Dela Hoz said she didn’t know where she was headed. She said she was told there would be beds and that it would be safe. She said they were promised help finding work.

Dela Hoz, a mother and grandmother who traveled from Venezuela with her husband and 25-year-old son, said she likes to take care of children.

“I would like to babysit,” she said through a translator.

After a few final minutes on the island, Dela Hoz and the other migrants boarded a bigger, yellow Yankee passenger bus, which rolled onto the ferry that would take them to the mainland and Joint Base Cape Cod.

On the ferry, some stayed in the bus, others got out to gaze across the glistening water at Cape Cod.

Opinion Column: Ron DeSantis' Martha's Vineyard stunt cruelly uses migrants as human pawns, helping no one

After a short passage to the mainland, the migrants arrived at the Steamship Authority’s Woods Hole station.

Onlookers erupted in applause as their bus, led by a state police escort, left the boat.

Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, addressed reporters at the scene. “We needed a longer-term solution, and there are wraparound services at Joint Base Cape Cod,” Fernandes said. “It was always temporary (on the island).”

The state representative, who arrived on the island shortly after the news broke of the migrants arrival, said there will be longer-term services like vendors for food and water, shelter, separate spaces for families, mental and general health care, crisis management and long-term contractors for case management available for the people at the base.

He was not sure what the accommodations will look like specifically, or where they will be staying on the base, but emphasized that the migrants who chose to go to the base are going because they want to.

“This is what good government actually looks like, what compassionate government actually looks like,” Fernandes said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the people of Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod and I couldn’t be prouder to have a state team pull this together so quickly. We are a community that sprang together to give them the resources they needed, there was an outpouring of support from everywhere to help out.”

Although he wasn’t sure how long they would be at Joint Base Cape Cod, Fernandes was more than confident that the migrants will be getting all the services they need. “We’re a state that is well-run, that is compassionate, and the state has been working around the clock to get this ready,” he said.

The yellow Yankee bus carrying the migrants arrived at Joint Base Cape Cod at 12:19 p.m. Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, told reporters at the Steamship Authority dock in Woods Hole that the migrants on Martha’s Vineyard were given the option to go to the base, but he didn’t know the exact number of people who had arrived there on Friday.

According to a press release from the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee, the Barnstable County Multi-Agency Coordination Center was activated at 9 a.m. Friday "to support the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) with sheltering and resource requests," for the migrants, which can include "provision of comfort, care, and food."

Immigrant vs Migrant: Here's the difference in the meaning of the words

"Immigrants generally are people who move to a different country with the intention of settling there," according to the Associated Press Stylebook. "This term, rather than migrants, is most commonly used for people established in the U.S., which usually is their final destination. It also is used when another specific country is the final destination."

"Migrants generally are people who are on the move, sometimes for economic reasons, either within one country or across borders," according to the Stylebook. "The term migrant also may be used for those whose reason for leaving their home country is not clear, or to cover people who may also be refugees or asylum-seekers."

What the group will find waiting at Joint Base Cape Cod

At Joint Base Cape Cod, the migrants will find respite in dormitory-style accommodations. Emergency management officials said there will be spaces both for singles and families, and that families will be kept together.

Besides having a place to sleep, they will be provided with clothing and toiletries kits, and food. They will have access to legal and health care services, as well as mental health and crises counseling services. Interpreters will be on hand to assist with communication.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency is working with various organizations to provide these services.

Did DeSantis use Florida program to transport migrants from Texas?

Did the 50 or so undocumented immigrants who landed on Martha's Vineyard Wednesday come from Texas or Florida?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took credit for chartering the two flights that landed on the island Wednesday afternoon, but the Miami Herald reports that DeSantis' comments at a Thursday press conference suggest that "his efforts prevented those migrants from ever making it to Florida."

That raises questions since the DeSantis administration is only allowed to “transport unauthorized aliens from this state,” the Herald reported, citing language in the state budget.

Politics in America: Venezuelans are a growing Latino group in the US. Can they recreate the Cuban American voter playbook?

The flights originated in Texas with stops in Florida and North Carolina, the newspaper noted, citing information from flight tracking company FlightAware.

The governor's office did not give the Herald an immediate response when they asked whether the migrants had moved to Florida or whether the state-funded program helped transport migrants from another state.

Read the full Miami Herald story.

Migrants moving to Joint Base Cape Cod

Two days after migrants from South America were sent from the southern border to Martha's Vineyard, Joint Base Cape Cod, with its more adequate accommodations, is making preparations to take them in.

Gov. Charlie Baker's office on Friday morning announced plans to provide new shelter and humanitarian support at the base, located on the Upper Cape, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and other officials. The governor said he will activate up to 125 members of the Massachusetts National Guard to assist.

Busses arrived at the church just before 10 a.m. on Friday to begin the journey to Joint Base Cape Cod.

Already migrants and volunteers were exchanging bear hugs, expressions of gratitude and taking selfies.

Islanders responded with an outpouring of support, with food and clothing, as well as calling on local Spanish speakers to help with communicating.

What to know about the planes that flew into Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview, Florida

Vice president and general counsel for Emerald Coast Aviation the Fixed Base Operator that runs Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview said that nobody called ahead to let the Fixed Base Operator know that a plane bearing undocumented immigrants or a plane sent from Texas by the governor was going to land in Crestview.

The airport is not controlled by a tower and as in most cases the planes radioed in that they were arriving and "They use the Crestview signal frequency to notify other people you are approaching."

"Nothing happened out of the ordinary. What was reported to me was the plane landed, we fueled it and it left."

The FBO staff did not interact with anyone on the aircraft.

He would not comment on staff reaction upon learning a plane bearing undocumented immigrants flying from Texas to Martha's Vineyard had made a stop at Bob Sikes Airport.

— Pensacola News-Journal reporter Bruce Bowman

The second plane to Massachusetts: Plane carrying migrants to Martha's Vineyard stopped at Spartanburg Downtown Airport

What is Joint Base Cape Cod?

Joint Base Cape Cod is a facility already designated by MEMA as an emergency shelter in Barnstable County, and its existing infrastructure provides a safe temporary accommodation appropriate for the needs of families and individuals.

The base is a full scale, joint-use facility that is home to five military commands: the Massachusetts Army National Guard at Camp Edwards; the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Otis Air National Guard Base; the 253rd Combat Communications Group, also at Otis Air National Guard Base; the 6th Space Warning Squadron phased array radar site at Cape Cod Air Force Station; and the U.S. Coast Guard at Air Station Cape Cod.

Members of these forces use the facility to train for missions at home and overseas, conducting airborne search and rescue missions, and intelligence command and control, as well as for conducting large scale joint training exercises with both military and civilian first responder participation.

Additionally, the base is the only land-based radar site providing missile warning for the east coast and southern Canada.

When was Joint Base Cape Cod built?

Although the area the base now occupies was used for National Guard training as early as 1911, it was officially created by the state and the U.S. War Department as a joint military installation in 1935. It was known as the Massachusetts Military Reservation until it was renamed Joint Base Cape Cod in 2013.

The base was used by the U.S. Army during World War II for training and troop deployment as Camp Edwards. After the war, it was transferred to the U.S. Air Force. Sometimes the base is still referred to as Otis Air Force Base.

In the 1970s, the Army National Guard took over operation of Camp Edwards from the U.S. Army. At the same time, Otis became Otis Air National Guard Base. The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod was established there in 1970. In 2008, the Coast Guard took over all airfield operations on the base.

This summer, the U.S. Air Force penned an agreement officially to transfer ownership of the base's water and wastewater systems to Converge LLC. According to a June release issued by the Air National Guard, "the systems have been under the management and control of the Massachusetts Air National Guard since the operations of the base’s infrastructure were transferred to it by the Air Force in the mid-1970’s."

How many acres is the base?

Joint Base Cape Cod encompasses 22,000 acres, 15,000 of which include a training area where members of the Army National Guard practice maneuvering exercises and bivouacking. There area also small arms ranges. This part of the base is recognized as "the largest piece of undeveloped land on Cape Cod," according to the Massachusetts National Guard, "and is home to 37 state-listed species living in a variety of habitats."

What facilities are on the base?

About 7,000 acres of the base are developed, with training simulators, hangars and support facilities for Massachusetts Army National Guard aviation units and the Massachusetts Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing, 253rd Combat Communications Group and U.S. Coast Guard facilities. Among the facilities is housing for Coast Guard families, with almost 2,000 residents, according to the base website.

What aircraft are at Joint Base Cape Cod?

Air Station Cape Cod "operates with MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters and HC-144A Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft," according to the website.

It is the only Coast Guard Aviation facility in the northeast and keeps watch over waters from New Jersey to the Canadian border. Personnel can launch aircraft within 30 minutes of a call in nearly all weather conditions. Their work includes search and rescue missions, Homeland Security, law enforcement, marine fisheries, and aids to navigation and logistics.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Immigrants on Martha's Vineyard moved to Cape Cod military base