Migrants leave Joint Base Cape Cod after landing in Mass. last month – MassLive.com

The remaining migrants who landed on Marthas Vineyard last month and were temporarily housed at Joint Base Cape Cod have left, the Baker administration said Friday.

A group of 35 primarily Venezuelan migrants was housed at the base in Buzzards Bay as of Tuesday, while another 14 had already left. State officials said then that they planned to transition the remaining individuals to long-term housing with the help of case managers.

A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security said Friday that the sheltering operation at the base is over, with all individuals transitioning into alternative housing or leaving the Commonwealth for opportunities in other states.

The administration is grateful for the collaborative efforts between several state agencies and non-profit providers to ensure each individual received necessary humanitarian resources and access to new housing options, the spokesperson said in a statement.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis organized flights for the migrants to Marthas Vineyard from San Antonio, Texas, a move that has triggered a federal lawsuit, renewed a contentious debate around federal immigration policies, and drawn sharp pushback from both Florida and Massachusetts Democrats.

They landed to the surprise of residents on the island, though locals quickly provided immediate shelter, food, medical services, and eventually, legal assistance. State officials transitioned the group to Joint Base Cape Cod several days after their arrival.

The migrants arrival came as other Republican governors shipped immigrants who crossed the United States border into a southern community to Democratic-led cities or states in the north. The decision to transport the migrants, some of those governors have said, is intended to highlight immigration issues in the south.

But it has drawn the ire of many elected officials, including a swath of politicians in Massachusetts, who say Republicans like DeSantis are using vulnerable humans to score political points.

The lawsuit, filed by Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, alleges a group of five unnamed defendants allegedly rounded up the migrants outside a resource center in San Antonio with the promise of employment and assistance in Massachusetts.

But it was not until they were on the plane, according to the lawsuit, that the migrants were informed that Marthas Vineyard was their destination, not Boston or New York as some said they had been told.

Some of the migrants identified two of the unnamed defendants as Perla and Emanuel. And media reports have named Perla as Perla Huerta, a former counterintelligence official and combat medic.

Bexar County Sheriffs Office in San Antonio is also reportedly investigating Huerta, and attorneys with Lawyers for Civil Rights say they are working to confirm Huerta is the same person as Perla before updating the identity in their lawsuit.

LCR Executive Director Ivn Espinoza-Madrigal said Perla played an integral on-the-ground recruiting role in DeSantis scheme, inducing migrants in San Antonio to fly with false promises of employment, education, and housing.

Once we have verified this information, we plan to amend our complaint to substitute Perlas true name for Doe Defendant #1. She will then be formally served with the complaint and required to respond in federal district court, he said in a statement.

A DeSantis spokesperson previously said the lawsuit is activists using illegal immigrants for political theater.

If these activists spent even a fraction of this time and effort at the border, perhaps some accountability would be brought to the Biden administrations reckless border policies that entice illegal immigrants to make dangerous and often lethal journeys through Central America and put their lives in the hands of cartels and coyotes, the spokesperson said.

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Migrants leave Joint Base Cape Cod after landing in Mass. last month - MassLive.com

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