The Martha’s Vineyard flights took 49 mostly Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to the island in September. Vertol contractors gave the migrants a pamphlet, written in English and Spanish, that suggested help would be waiting for them on their arrival in Massachusetts. Among the promised benefits was assistance finding jobs, housing, food and clothing. But no one on Martha’s Vineyard knew they were coming, leading the migrants to say that they had been lied to.
The alleged deception prompted a raft of lawsuits and investigations against Florida and its contractors, including a federal class-action lawsuit from the migrants and a criminal investigation by Sheriff Javier Salazar of Bexar County, Texas, a Democrat whose jurisdiction includes San Antonio.
In a statement released on Monday, the sheriff’s office said it believed “felony and misdemeanor charges of unlawful restraint” were warranted, although it did not name the people it believed should be charged. “At this time, the case is being reviewed by the D.A.’s office,” the statement said. Any decision by prosecutors is likely several weeks away.
Those earlier flights also drew a state court lawsuit from State Senator Jason Pizzo of Florida, a Democrat who argued, among other claims, that Florida had violated existing state law by transporting migrants it found in Texas rather than Florida.
In response, Mr. DeSantis called state legislators to a special session in February, where they passed a new law to allow Florida to transport migrants from anywhere within the United States. Later, the Legislature authorized $12 million for the program as part of the state’s new law cracking down on undocumented immigrants.
Mr. Pizzo agreed to dismiss his suit after the new law passed. But in an interview on Monday, he said he believed the sole point of resuming the flights was to further Mr. DeSantis’s political ambitions.
“This is beyond theater,” Mr. Pizzo said. “These are not bad people, they’re not criminals, they are refugees and asylum seekers.”
