Democratic Rep. Dylan Fernandez says Florida’s Republican governor is a “coward” and a “weak man” for sending dozens of undocumented immigrants to a Massachusetts island without warning, just to make a point. On Wednesday, 48 people, mostly Venezuelans, unexpectedly arrive on Martha’s Vineyardan island known as a vacation destination for wealthy Americans. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent the two planes of people from San Antonio. When they landed, many did not know where they were. Some said they had been told they were going to Boston and other cities to be connected with housing and jobs. It was part of a broader Republican strategy to send undocumented immigrants en masse from Republican states to Democratic-led sanctuary cities. DeSantis stood by the movement and vowed to do it again. He said the state legislature has set aside $12 million to take people out of state “to protect Florida.” Residents of Martha’s Vineyard, which is home to about 20,600 people year-round, scrambled to accommodate the new arrivals. On Friday, officials said the 48 people were taken again — voluntarily, this time — to a military base on nearby Cape Cod. Fernandes, state representative for Massachusetts, spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal. The following is part of their conversation. Can you give us an idea of how these people are doing now? We moved people from Martha’s Vineyard to a much larger facility, a more equipped facility, on Cape Cod. This is a place that has surrounded services for these families, including a whole range of health care, mental health, crisis management resources [and] just, you know, regular healthcare. There are … Hispanic immigration attorneys on the ground who review people’s cases and help them with their immigration status … There are also case managers there who review people’s individual issues and work toward solutions for long-term housing and also educational opportunities for the children. How many children are there in the group? There are four young children, and maybe a few other people there in their late teens. How do they all feel? They have had a very long journey. I think it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions for a lot of families here. Several people, I am told, walked for several months before even reaching the country. You know, a lot of them were fleeing gang violence [or] escaping financial ruin. Many of them had been stolen on their journey here. And then they arrived in the US after this incredibly arduous journey and, you know, they were rounded up by Governor DeSantis and his cronies… they got on a plane and they lied about where they were going. Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis flew two planes of people to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday, escalating a tactic by Republican governors to draw attention to what they see as the Democratic administration’s failed border policies. (Marco Bello/Reuters) You say they lied to the world. That’s the feeling we get from watching the coverage up to this point … from Martha’s Vineyard. what the translators were saying to the people there. What were they told before they got on those planes? A series of lies were told. Some of the people said they were going to New York. Others were told they would go to other cities in the country. The people said they were heading to an immigration meeting and that would make their claim easier. Almost everyone, I think, was told that they would be met immediately with housing and jobs and that people would be here to greet them. These are all lies. And it all speaks to how unbelievably tough the governor of Florida is and the people and the Republicans who are helping him. Why do you think Ron DeSantis decided to do this? Ron DeSantis did this as a political stunt. You have the governor of one of the largest states in the United States spending his time not helping his constituents — and look, there’s a lot of need in the state of Florida — and instead spending his time and millions of… state taxpayer dollars hatching a secret plot to send families … into our state without any warning, just to go on Tucker Carlson and Fox News to announce it and beat his chest for being tough on immigration. Ron DeSantis is a coward. There is nothing difficult about using women and children as political pawns. He is a deeply weak man. But what is powerful is the response of the community here and the response of the state of Massachusetts here to treat these people with the dignity and respect that they all deserve. Volunteers prepare food for migrants outside St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Thursday. (Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times/The Associated Press) So DeSantis didn’t approach your state leaders in any formal way before this happened? No. No formal or informal way. The people on Martha’s Vineyard certainly responded and sprung into action very quickly to help house and feed this group of people, as you said, who had already been through such a painful journey. I think people can get an idea of what Martha’s Vineyard is like. Sure, it has a lot of famous… summer residents. But there are also people who live there all year round. But I wonder if sending them away from Martha’s Vineyard somehow reinforces this stereotype that people have, that it’s a place for wealthy elites? And, you know, why couldn’t they just stay there? Because it’s a small island and the resources just aren’t there to house everyone in one location and then provide all these wraparound services. And, look, they didn’t have to leave either. You know, we don’t force people anywhere. This is completely voluntary. But these stereotypes aren’t really accurate… The median salary in Martha’s Vineyard is below the state average. It’s really poorer… This is a community where over one-third of public school students are non-white. So we are communities that have long embraced immigrants, long embraced diversity. And so this narrative that is just being spun by the Republicans [and] Fox News, just to try to fit us into a box, is simply not even true or representative of our community. Democrat Dylan Fernandes is a Massachusetts state representative. (Submitted by Dylan Fernandes) Florida and other southern states are clearly trying to point out that they are not getting the support they feel they need to deal with immigrants at their borders and to say that your state doesn’t have to deal with this problem to the same extent. So leaving aside how this all turned out and how difficult it was [this was] and how they lied to these people – the political trick, as you say – is there anything to this argument? Do they need more support? I think almost every American knows that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be reformed. And I know that at the federal level, there have been many attempts over the years that have failed to do that. My focus as a state official is simply to make sure that everyone in my community and in my state gets the resources and things they need to have a comfortable life and feel welcome here. Do you think the response we’ve seen to what’s happened to this team … could backfire on DeSantis? Probably. Look, I’m not that interested in the politics of this. I mean, it’s more important to me to make sure I take care of those 48 people who got off the plane in my state because at the end of the day, these are people. And while you may treat them with a single level of cruelty that bothers me, you know, we’re going to treat people with compassion. With files from the Associated Press. Interview produced by Chris Harbord. The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity
