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A Texas sheriff who launched an investigation into possible human trafficking by the governors of Texas and Florida after they flew a group of Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard has said the US should welcome them because restaurants need the staff.
On Tuesday, the 50 Venezuelan migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard filed a class action suit against Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who arranged the flight from Texas — arguing that they experienced “cruelty similar to what they saw in their lives.” have fled their home country’.
Javier Salazar, a Democrat whose Bexar County district includes the city of San Antonio, said the US needed to rethink its attitude toward migrants, saying flying them across the country was not the solution.
“I think at some point you’re going to have to embrace the fact that this is happening to some degree,” he told CNN.
Hours after new customs and border protection data showed the number of migrants had surpassed two million for the first time this year, Salazar said they were needed as workers.
He said restaurants in his district needed the migrants as staff. “I’d say, look, you have people who want to work,” he said.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said on Tuesday the US must welcome migrants – as the restaurants needed more staff
Venezuelan migrants are seen in Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday, after being flown there from Texas by Florida governor
Authorities in Martha’s Vineyard were not warned of the migrants’ arrival and had to scramble to find them shelter at a local church
“They want to do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wages – not for slave wages, give them a fair day’s wages.
“And you have a staff shortage.
“Now if you go to a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, you will have to wait a long time to get your table, even if there are empty tables, because there isn’t enough wait staff to wait for you; you are going to wait a long time for your food because there are not enough people to cook it in the back. Half of the cooks might not show up for work, or stop there.”
Salazar said the solution was to hire the newcomers – despite the fact that, having crossed illegally, they would not have work permits.
‘Take these people; giving them the opportunity to work legally and ensuring that the employers who employ them do so properly. And pay them correctly,’ he said.
“And here’s the trick: taxing them on it. So they pay taxes on any income they earn. They don’t earn more than anyone else, but they don’t earn less than anyone else either.
“And they pay their fair share of taxes.”
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who chartered the planes to fly the migrants out of Texas, said boarding was voluntary
Texas governor Greg Abbott has also sent migrants out of his state — using buses to transport them to Washington DC, New York City and Chicago
Latest report on the number of migrants arrested at the border this year reached historic records
US Customs and Border Protection saw a 400 percent increase this year in the number of migrants on the FBI’s terror list caught illegally crossing the US-Mexico border
Salazar said he accepted that not everyone was an asset to American society.
In June, border police in the El Paso sector said they had arrested an average of three migrants with criminal records per day since the start of fiscal year 2022.
Customs and Border Protection reported this week that 78 immigrants on the US terror list crossed the border last year — nearly four times as many as the 15 in 2021.
Last year’s report was up from three in 2020, with the US previously reporting zero in 2019, six in 2018 and just two in 2017.
“Now I know, of course, that we can’t let everyone into the country: there will be people who are unwanted, they could have a terrorist background, they could have a criminal background,” Salazar said.
‘Keep those people in their country of origin.
“But people who just want to work hard for a day’s wages, let them come and let’s put them to work. Let’s make them do something.’
Salazar was upset that DeSantis chartered two flights last week from his district, which flew Venezuelans to the vacation island of Massachusetts.
Those on board said they had been falsely told they would have expedited work papers had they boarded the plane.
The 50 are now at an airbase in Cape Cod as authorities decide what to do with them.
On Monday, Salazar’s office tweeted: “The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into the migrants who were lured from the Migrant Resource Center, located in Bexar County, TX, and flown to Florida, where they were eventually met with their fate.” left. at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
“In addition, we are working with private lawyers representing the victims, as well as advocacy groups related to this incident.
“We are also preparing to work with all federal agencies that have concurrent jurisdiction, should the need arise.”
On Tuesday, the migrants themselves sued DeSantis and his transportation secretary.
The suit gives a detailed account of how the migrants boarded the two planes, allegedly under false pretenses, arguing that the moves violated their Fourth and 14th Amendment rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“These immigrants, who are pursuing proper channels for legal immigration status in the United States, have experienced atrocities similar to what they fled in their home countries,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Defendants have manipulated them, deprived them of their dignity, deprived them of their liberty, physical autonomy, due process and equal legal protection, and improperly interfered with the federal government’s exclusive control over immigration for an unlawful purpose and a personal political agenda. .’
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Massachusetts, asks a judge to declare DeSantis’ moves illegal under the Constitution and federal and state laws.
It also asks the judge to prevent Florida from encouraging immigrants to travel through state laws through fraud and misrepresentation.
DeSantis has said the flights were “clearly voluntary.”