Nearly 50 Venezuelan immigrants that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent to Martha’s VineyardMassachusetts, will be taken to the Cape Cod military base, the governor of that state, Charlie Baker, announced Friday.
The migrants will receive food, temporary shelter and essential services such as legal advice and medical treatment.
Baker, a Republican, announced in a statement that he will activate 125 members of the Massachusetts National Guard as part of the effort to receive the group of migrants, who will be provided with dormitories from the base, in spaces also designed for families, which they will not be separated, he insisted.
The unexpected arrival of two planes with migrants to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, an exclusive tourist destination where former President Barack Obama has a residence, took that community by surprise, not used to receiving migrants and that nevertheless mobilized to secure food. and shelter for newcomers, including several children.
The move to the military base will be voluntary and is seen by the authorities as a relief for Martha’s Vineyard, a town that does not have the facilities or resources to welcome migrants.
“We are grateful to the volunteers and local authorities who have stepped forward on Martha’s Vineyard in recent days to provide immediate services to these individuals,” Baker said in the statement.
Authorities have not said what will happen to immigrants who decide not to go to the Cape Cod base.
Joint Base Cape Cod includes a Coast Guard base, as well as facilities for other branches of the armed services, and has previously provided emergency shelter, such as for Louisianans displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Governor DeSantis said the flights to Martha’s Vineyard are part of an initiative to “transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.”
The Florida legislature has appropriated $12 million to transport “unauthorized aliens” out of the state, DeSantis’ press office said Thursday.
The governors of Texas and Arizona have bused thousands of migrants to New York, Chicago and Washington, DC, in recent months.
On Thursday, two buses with more than 70 people from Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico were sent by the governor of Texas, Gregg Abbot to the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris.
When questioned, the migrants claimed that they did not know where they were going and that they had been left “adrift”.
The Biden administration has harshly criticized the actions of the governors of Texas and Florida, in what it has called a “political stunt.”
“It’s kind of embarrassing” said the press secretary of the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, on Thursday.
President Joe Biden, at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual gala to mark the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month, said “They are playing politics with human beings, using them as props.”
“What they’re doing is just wrong, it’s not American, it’s reckless. We have a process in place to manage immigrants at the border,” Biden said.
* This story was supplemented with information and reporting from the Associated Press.
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