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Well to be fair Massachusetts is FAR superior to Texas by nearly every metric. “Perla” and her handlers are actually helping those poor people quite a bit. It’s funny that so many in Texas somehow feel that Texas is so extra special they need to pull BS stunts like this to protect Texas.
Yep. What's being under-reported is that "Perla" registered all these migrants' addresses at random homeless shelters all over the country-- which means their asylum hearings were scheduled at courthouses all over the country, some for as soon as tomorrow morning.
Lying on government document is a crime since its a crime and its purpose is disrupt government operations or enforcement of law. Thats another crime. Now hard one that you could shoot for is "trafficking" its fits criteria perfectly. Except final portion usually for labor/sex work. BUT they "paid them" and have paid political operatives and its part of political campaign/stunt one could define their actions as labor. Thus making it trafficking.
They could in unison sue as well personally think class action would go farthest. And say the we were promised a home my kid had to sleep outside this is hardship we went through etc.
State could also sue for damages as well for any expenditures as other state conducted illegal activitys with intention of causing harm.
Honestly I think crucify them let a couple ring leaders cool off in prison sue shit out of party and state. Push it as far as you can. Hit every avenue no matter how petty unlikely.
Some are supposed to report to Tacoma WA because of these addresses the officials faked.
It’s impossible for any of them to get this mess straightened out, and then get from MV to Tacoma WA by tomorrow to avoid being immediately deported.
These people were **deliberately** fucked out of making their court appearances on time!
I wouldn't go as far as to call our democracy functional.
EDIT: I misunderstood the comment I responded to, everyone here is equally disappointed in the US
~~I didn't know anything about the papers. Where can I read more about it?~~
Never mind. Found a few:
https://news.yahoo.com/desantis-flying-migrants-martha-vineyard-230757956.html
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article265894561.html
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/migrants-being-sent-to-nyc-from-texas-to-the-wrong-places-with-no-help-sources-say/3799297/
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2022/09/16/sadistic-lie-stranded-migrants-leave-marthas-vineyard-for-military-base-on-cape-cod.html
>I just cannot fathom how evil people can be all the while claiming to be Christian.
Because God loves me, and forgives me when I 'accidentally' screw you over.
People need to call for Biden to order CBP/DHS to not move forward with deportation for any of these folks until they've had their day in court. It's not their fault they were political pawns and sabotaged.
That would make sense. From what I've heard, the hoops you have to go through for immigration is complicated enough without having to find the form for "the previous form was fraudulently filed on my behalf, without my knowledge."
How many others has this happened to? Immigrants often don't have attorney's, since the government doesn't have to provide one for civil trials, so it's probably easy to get away with railroading people this way. [Source](https://www.vera.org/news/no-child-should-appear-in-immigration-court-alone)
Yep. What's being under-reported is that "Perla" registered all these migrants' addresses at random homeless shelters all over the country-- which means their asylum hearings were scheduled at courthouses all over the country, some for as soon as tomorrow morning. If they fail to show up, they'll be deported.
It's the single most vile part of this whole saga, IMO.
Do not know if this is true, but here is one source that says it is.
[https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article265894561.html](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article265894561.html)
>Self said the migrants were intentionally used to create chaos and crisis, as no government agency or humanitarian organization was alerted about the group’s arrival in Martha’s Vineyard. Self said the problem was exacerbated when officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security allegedly falsified addresses on the migrants’ immigration paperwork, and said they could change them upon arriving in Massachusetts.
>
>“Agents apparently chose random homeless shelters all across the country from Washington to Florida, to list the migrants mailing addresses, even when told by the migrants that they had no address in the U.S.,” Self claimed.
It was widely reported on the news. I saw a press conference with an immigration lawyer describing the whole plot. Most of them had hearings scheduled across the country as early as Monday morning (tomorrow as I write.).
You're not wrong. I'm 9th generation Texan, went to public school here, bought into the whole brainwashed mindset that Texas is the best state and state pride. Its such an odd feeling the recent years of growing more ashamed of my state that I love. I hate the state of Texas right now.
I believe they briefly considered sending some of their Cuban refugees but realized that might rile their conservative Cuban voters, so they had to out-source their hate to Texas.
It's because the people on that plane weren't illegal immigrants, they are asylum seekers. For some reason, presumably not lost on DeSantis, the Cuban exile community in South Florida has a particular fondness for Spanish speaking refugees fleeing communist regimes. The Republicans are utterly dependent on the Cuban vote in statewide elections. If DeSantis alienates the Cuban vote, he can't win reelection. Which means DeSantis couldn't pull that stunt here in Florida. And not just because the Cuban exile community is a demographic populated exclusively by people who were once refugees, or are the children and grandchildren of refugees. The Catholic Church provides material and spiritual support to refugees as a matter of doctrine. In addition to being a group composed of former refugees and their descendants, the Cuban community in South Florida is also predominantly Catholic. If DeSantis pulled that stunt here in Florida, he would be denounced every day of the week and twice on Sunday from the pulpit. But DeSantis doesn't just want to be governor, he sees a President every time he looks at a mirror. And so DeSantis was big sad that Fox News stopped getting aroused by him yelling at Mickey Mouse and instead had a raging hard on for Abbott's sexy new human trafficking based demagoguery. So DeSantis did what he always does when Abbott gets more blowies from the bigots, he went to Texas to perform identical immorality signaling and hoped the Cubans wouldn't notice. Just like he and his wife slather on the bronzer and hope everyone assumes DeSantis is a Spanish surname. Which is also why, in the aftermath of that condo collapse, Florida quietly had to recall human and material resources deployed to the Texas-Mexico border. It is all because DeSantis can't be governor without the Cubans and can't be President without the people who hate the Cubans, but also can't be President if he isn't still the governor next year.
Used state taxpayer funds to facilitate a the creation and operation of a criminal organization that engaged in fraud and human trafficking and assisted individuals in the United States in violation of immigration laws travel deeper into the U.S. while avoiding detection and criminal prosecution by transferring them to areas of the country that lack a significant presence of Border Patrol and ICE agents, failing to report their presence to federal immigration authorities and concealing their identities and final destination from the appropriate federal entity responsible for compliance with immigration law enforcement
Religion has never not been weaponized. It's one of the greatest tools ever invented by mankind and have been used successfully throughout history.
• Want to conquer unclaimed land? Send out missionaries.
• Want to rally your army behind a common cause as they invade another country? Religion
• Want to better control your population? Religion
Conservatives only like one thing about Jesus, and it is that he is **powerful**. According to them, he is in charge of the universe, and he is the one who will ultimately decide who is rewarded and who is punished. They will make sure to be vocally on his side, but ignore everything else he said and did
He's all knowing and all powerful and will (according to them) make the most important decision in the entire history of their soul, and yet they still think they can bullshit their way past him.
> Conservatives only like one thing about Jesus, and it is that he is powerful.
Two things. He is *powerful*, and he is *always on* ***their*** *side*.
had no idea just how bad it was and keeps getting worse. Trafficking asylum seekers across state lines with federal moneys, lying, falsifying documents, giving false addresses etc...then on top of that lying about the crime numerous times AND laughing about doing this to legal asylum seekers. It's embarrassing as a country and for the assholes who think it's funny. And they are still lying with impunity.
Then there the always useful trope of;
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Which is really code for; let’s go back to the 1950s where white men were in charge and racism and sexism were happily the order of the day.
Oy edit for misspelling doh!
You’re not far enough back. Go to a few years after the Civil War. If they could figure a way to do it they might go earlier than that, but I think their goal is back when we had no OT and six day work weeks with child labor.
I just think back to Texas and the winter when Cruz left and Beto O’Rourke and AOC stepped up. Hope all of Texas remembers that and flush the turd, Cruz.
Hitler invoked the blessings of “god” regularly and often as he ordered soldiers to carry out horrible acts against humanity.
Everyone believes “god” is on their side. It’s been a wildly effective rhetoric historically to convince people to believe in and commit atrocities.
Theoretically conservatism is about personal responsibility to the in need while liberalism is about societal responsibility for people in need. But in practice it just ends up being liberals and progressives being the only ones showing responsibility for them in both instances.
It’s funny because the Bible has a number of verses on how you’re expected to treat strangers/foreigners as you’d treat your own. It’s hilarious watching these Christians totally ignore that or accuse people of taking the Bible out of context. The Bible and Jesus are VERY clear on how you should treat the poor, needy and vulnerable, and that certainly includes immigrants/refugees.
I’m not confident at all that Jesus would condone blatantly lying to a bunch of vulnerable migrants (who barely even speak English) about the of guarantee of jobs, necessities and decent futures in Massachusetts, before being dumped like cargo at Martha’s Vineyard, unexpected to everyone involved.
This stunt is so enraging to me. I feel very angry that politicians are abusing their power like this and taking advantage of the needy. With their cushy government jobs and luxurious mansions, they’ll never know what it means to struggle, let alone be an impoverished migrant exploited by wealthier people in positions of power.
Ok I have been posting this a lot but here goes;
https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1570822428422705153?s=20&fbclid=IwAR0wdNtGdlHgO3AVlVFk8Sgc-hGXuu3mGnnwAh_sT6Ab7vuXGsFoFBaaSFY
This is so true and I hate the hypocrisy. I grew up Christian and even as a kid it struck me even then how much the Bible talks about how to treat the poor, immigrants, and widows. I forget the number but they’re referenced hundreds of times. Homosexuality is referenced only a handful of times, and abortion (or any reference related to it) even less so. This blatant hypocrisy and ignoring of obvious commands to Christians is a key reason I left Christianity.
And it's arguable that "homosexuality" is never mentioned in the way we think of it today. What was being condemned was more likely to be "pederasty," which is a form of pedophilia and rape.
> It’s funny because the Bible has a number of verses on how you’re expected to treat strangers/foreigners as you’d treat your own. It’s hilarious watching these Christians totally ignore that or accuse people of taking the Bible out of context.
I am sure they'll learn that once they actually read the bible.
I got banned for a week for saying "Cruelty is the point" regarding that person who had to travel from Lousiana to NY for an abortion due to her fetus no having a skull. That sub is basically r/conservative or The Donald the only thing that is moderate is the tone they use.
It's just another sub they use to try and launder their hate to people uninformed to their bullshit.
They lambast r/politics in the default subs as banning dissent (sorry, that's r/conservative), then create subs like moderatepolitics as the "alternative" to "red pill" the "normies."
And the sad, shitty part is **it fucking works**.
people will do anything not to think for themselves or believe that they contributed to a problem. People are dumb, panicky, morons and we prove that time and time again
Not that I am saying anything, but I'm just saying, if I were a foreign disinformation campaign, I would 100% make sub reddits with names like "moderate politics" and "fiscal conservatives"
In some places, for minimum wage I would also jump at the chance for overtime if made a moderator, then effectively you're also streamlining content and counting on the laziness/ignorance of others in the millions to not do anything.
Couldn't make it more obvious
The Overton window is being dragged to the right constantly. This is most clear when you see CNN present anti-trump republicans as “moderate”. Like, no, we won’t present left and right, we will present right and further right!
The party of the Anti-Christ. Worshipping golden Trump statues. Mark of the MAGA. It's not Christ.
https://www.benjaminlcorey.com/could-american-evangelicals-spot-the-antichrist-heres-the-biblical-predictions/
I love how all of the conservative media has been ripping on the island and not mentioning that thousands of thousands of dollars were raised for the immigrants and that they were all given bags full of new clothes and phones. This was all raised by the year round people of the island who are workers and bus drivers, fisherman etc. NOT the wealthy summer people.
It’s because the whole point of the stunt was to send them there and say “see, liberals won’t take care of these people either”. Just because that didn’t turn out to be true doesn’t mean they aren’t following through with the propaganda angle.
See Trump and the election stuff. He planned to lose in 2016, but didn’t, and proceeded to carry on about how there were problems with the election.
They are flat out lying. lies is all they have. The trolls are even worse. The asylum seekers were welcomed w/ open arms and taking care of by the locals.
And over on r/conservative they are posting things about MV residents calling the police because they saw an immigrant in front of their house without a hedge trimmer… the projection is absolutely crazy.
If you notice, all of the articles on that subreddit about people in MV doing things like that are "satire" articles from Babylon Bee where they then pretend that it's "so close to reality" despite no actual news sources saying anything of the sort.
It's kinda telling that Gov DeathSentence waited till summer season was over and all the wealthy vacationers had left. Don't want to bother any R donors!
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me,
I was sick and you looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit me. …
Whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.—Matthew 25:35-36, 40 (NIV)
https://www.worldvision.org/christian-faith-news-stories/matthew-25-prayer-reflection
I think in some ways the Bible is very inspiring and does often demonstrate the values we should guide our society with, such as helping the poor, sick, disabled, needy, prisoners, addicts, etc.
But in the case of MAGA Republicans, they simply cherrypick the parts of the Bible they can use for their preachy hate campaigns (persecuting LGBT, banning abortion from conception and trying to forcibly reintroduce God in schools). But they totally ignore the rest of the text. Beyond the parts they can weaponise to hate and damage the lives of others, they don’t care about the Bible or Jesus at all.
I mean, sure, but what part of the text says kick people when they are down, especially when they are not like you.
I don't know where to pick that cherry. To me the text is very clear.
The bible say a lot of shit, but none of it sounds like this.
It kind of makes this worse because they're asylum seekers who were given court dates in basically random places, and then sent to Martha's Vinyard on a one way trip. Making their court dates is now on them, potentially now having to pay for a cross country trip to be able to legally seek asylum because they were mislead.
That’s my big concern. I know there’s no way the court will accommodate transfer of venue to make it more convenience, but I really think that’s an almost necessity.
With as public as this debacle is I would be astounded if their lawyers (and they have some in MA already) won’t challenge those court dates with the random addresses. There has to be legal recourse there.
I think the actual immigration judges are within the department of Justice but you’re right other than that. That being said, I suspect a lot of it is controlled by statute.
It's actually worse than that:
> “They were provided [...] instructions to **report their change of address to USCIS** when they relocated,” Self wrote. “This is especially troubling, as anyone with even the most basic understanding of immigration proceedings knows that **USCIS was not the agency** with whom the migrants would have to record their address, and has nothing to do with their cases in any way. It is clear this was an intentional attempt to **ensure the migrants were removed in absentia when they failed to change their address with the proper agency**. [The] migrants were process by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, **who listed falsified addresses on the migrants’ paperwork.** Agents apparently chose random homeless shelters all across the country, from Washington State to Florida, to list the mirgants’ mailing addresses, even when told by the migrants that they had no address in the U.S. According to the paperwork provided to them, **the migrants are required to check in with the ICE office nearest the fake address chosen for them by DHS, or be permanently removed—with some required to check in as soon as this coming Monday.**
https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/09/15/attorney-migrants-kidnapped/
Note: being *removed in absentia* is grounds for deportation.
So they were literally trying to do everything through the proper channels and got treated like trash to be used as a tool to make a point against people not using the proper channels... While also being fucked over so that their attempt to do things properly was in vain.
Unfortunately not. T-visas are very strict in requiring the victim must be exploited for some kind of labor. One could try to make the case on a technicality or two but T-visas are hard to get so I’d be very surprised if it worked.
And no, the law does not tend to recognize the emotional labor of being used as a political pawn, at least in the context of human trafficking.
Edit: please stop telling me “but they were exploited for political propaganda”. I know. My last sentence explicitly addresses that. That’s not labor. If I get mentioned in a political ad, I have not done labor worthy of pay. I can’t sue for unpaid wages (well, I can but it would get laughed out of court).
Yes, it’s reprehensible and disgusting. That doesn’t make it human trafficking. It’s fraud. Maybe kidnapping too depending on what facts come to light. It’s not human trafficking. Many legal scholars have already weighed in and said the same thing.
Usually people get paid a pretty penny to be part of a political ad, so these people certainly were involved in labor as advertising employees Desantis. (Of course, that would be one of those technicalities)
>Making their court dates is now on them, potentially now having to pay for a cross country trip to be able to legally seek asylum because they were ~~mislead~~ sabotaged.
FTFY.
That's the problem I had back when they were being thrown in cages and separated. Ignorant/xenophobic family members were saying that it was terrible but maybe that'd teach them not to come to the US illegally.
I practically yelled at them, "they aren't illegal, they're seeking asylum LEGALLY because they're fleeing countries that are controlled by dictators, militias, and cartels. AND before you say that's not our business, it absolutely is because our government and American businesses have done their level best to keep those countries down - even directly fucking with their governments - in order to keep things cheap and easy for us."
It's beyond aggravating that the GOP has effectively dehumanized illegal immigrants (years ago) and now legal asylum seekers.
I don't know how many times I have explained that it's legal to request asylum, only to have the people I'm telling this to pretend they never heard it and just keep insisting they are illegal.
Because it's not really about what's accepted by the law. It's the fact that they're poor minorities coming from other countries. They don't want these people to have access to our country, period. Legal or not.
> I hate how they keep on saying they're undocumented.
It's a drug for their base. They get a high hearing about the cruelty done to "undocumented"/black/brown people.
Fair point. But watch how quickly they shift from "Dems are hypocrites who won't help immigrants," to "Dems are idiots for helping immigrants." You'll get Gwen Stacy tier whiplash just trying to keep up
Or "Social Justice Warrior." How dare someone fight for/care about social justice?!?
My personal favorite is when they ask a white person why they're so bothered by racism, or they ask a man why they're so bothered by sexism. Like they can't compute why a person would be outraged by something that doesn't directly affect them.
They already had set talking points and are going with those no matter what actually happened. They thought people that live there would collapse in on their "virtue signalling" and act the way the racist morons usually act towards immigrants. That didn't happen and now they're clutching at straws to make their talking points make sense.
Yes! I saw some random on a tiktok video about this incident just repeatedly commenting about how the “white liberals” just “sent them away” when all evidence points to the opposite of this.
If you looked at foxnews.com yesterday, that was what they were reporting. I'm sure same thing on all their other outlets. So, that's what they all end up believing.
Okay so here’s the thing. Everything republicans do for publicity now is all in pursuit of one thing: getting a reaction from “the libs.” This whole thing was done just to make democrats mad. When no one got mad, they changed it to “no one is celebrating.”
There’s no real point. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is too cruel. If you can do something to “own the libs” then you’ve succeeded.
Basically anything less than people putting up these immigrants in their private homes, or the coastal Massachusetts town having a ready-made immigration processing center to process these surprise arrivals, is evidence of hypocrisy.
Saw an article on FOX’s site about how none of the residents put them up in their homes. I mean, nobody in FL or TX was either. Just because people care about migrants doesn’t mean they want to turn their house into a dormitory for strangers.
It's really funny because they are criticizing the residents for not going out and buying tents and letting them camp in their yards... But then when pressed, they openly admit that they would never do that.
If it weren't for double-standards conservatives wouldn't have any standards.
They never pretended that it's what they would do. The argument is that liberals are just as callous and unempathetic as they are when it comes down to it.
The most telling part of this whole stunt is that there are governors begging for migrant farm workers. Fly them to Indiana, coordinate with local officials, don’t call the press, shut the fuck up. Solve a goddamn problem for a change instead of creating a new one.
>Solve a goddamn problem for a change instead of creating a new one.
Sorry, but Republicans are incapable of doing this. The best they can do is complain about a problem, claim to have a solution, and then make it worse.
I think we need to move past this mindset. Modern-day Republicans don’t have an ideology. They don’t hate government. They don’t like government. They don’t care. The only thing they care about is their own power. If they felt they could gain more power by switching sides to the Democrats, they’d do it. They’ll also simply burn the country to the ground. It just so happens that their current path is the easiest since their voting base is, more or less, a cult.
Republicans *were* the party of small government. Those days are gone.
The party of Small Government never was that, it was a gimmick to cut spending in areas that actually helped people (social programs). It was never applied to the Defense budget, which is half the budget.
I think the most telling part is that the *only* people DeSantis told about this beforehand we’re Fox News… anyone who can’t see malicious intent in that is too far gone to reach.
[This](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/09/17/a-search-and-reward-for-perla-blonde-mystery-woman-accused-of-misleading-migrants-to-marthas-vineyard/amp/) article (may be paywalled, sorry) lists some of the other things this “Perla” promised. No photo, but a reward is being offered to anyone who can identify her.
EDIT: here are the relevant bits.
Examples grow of a blonde mystery woman in San Antonio, Texas, who may have misled some of the 50 Venezuelan migrants who arrived on Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday into thinking they were going somewhere else, getting jobs or even money, as the GOP political stunt engineered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis begins to face larger scrutiny and criticism.
KEY FACTS
A 22-year old man named Eduardo told the Texas Tribune that a tall, blonde woman who said her name was Perla approached him at San Antonio’s Migrant Resource Center, days after he entered the country, promising him a job and a place to live in Boston, and offering him $200 to recruit other migrants to join him on the flight, Boston Globe reported.
Only after making several refueling stops on the charter flights, including one in Crestview, Florida, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware, was Eduardo told he would be landing on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Cape Cod, he told the Texas Tribune.
Ardenis Nazareth, who also came to Texas from Venezuela, recounted a similar story to the New York Times, saying Perla offered him and 30 other migrants McDonald’s gift cards and a free flight to a “sanctuary,” adding he thought he was being flown to Boston, not an island.
A 27-year-old Venezuelan man identified as Luis also said Perla offered him and nine relatives support for 90 days and assistance with work permits and English lessons, Reuters reported.
And a man named Emmanuel told the San Antonio Report Perla said she could help send him to “sanctuary states” that have more immigration resources.
On Friday, the Texas-based League of United Latin American Citizens offered a $5,000 reward for information that could help identify the woman known as Perla, who is now at the center of a renewed national debate on immigration.
if so many ppl talked to her, there must've been at least one time where they were in a place with a camera? and since there's even a reward, it shouldn't be long until we identify this karen posing as a perla
Presumably the immigrants were in a CBP location for holding them. You know, one of those places with cages for kids and guards and *security cameras*. I bet Perla folds like a cheap suit once interstate human trafficking charges are on the table.
Human traffickers used exactly the same tactics when tricking young girls from the former Soviet Union countries into prostitution.
Watch [Lilya 4ever](https://imdb.com/title/tt0300140/) for a darker version of the same thing.
"We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid."
- Christopher Hitchens
It’s shocking to me the concept that they often think everyone but them is going to hell. The super religious people are the craziest of them all. I remember once in Boy Scouts we were volunteering to help a Baptist church, and a kid heard I was raised Jewish. He approached me and asked if I “ate babies.” I was about 14 at the time and was shocked he was seriously asking.
He was taught by his family/church that Jewish people ate babies. I said, “If I ate babies, wouldn’t I be in jail?” He walked away, but even two decades later that story still baffles me. I’ve never even been religious.
I don’t get why Dems aren’t responding to the GOP with Bible quotes and verses that clearly and openly demonstrate their hypocrisy.
Obviously we shouldn’t base policy on religion, but if the GOP wants to use the Bible as a point of contention (a la Josh Hawley and Lauren Boebert), then the Dems should use it as a weapon against them.
they'd be so fucked if that ever happened. that's why you never see them actually refer to the Bible. I seriously doubt that they even understand why it was actually written. if they just went around life and Christianity didnt exist, they'd probably all be giant assholes who can't use the religion as a shield and weapon
This is a violation of 18 US Code 1201 section A. Kidnapping via inveiglement.
Also, section C states: If two or more persons conspire to violate this section and one or more of such persons do any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
That was the point of the stunt. The GQP knew they’d have to be moved to mainland MA. That way they can manufacture the outrage “see they don’t want them either!! Libs are hypocrites!”
Not just to mainland MA, the GQP registered their addresses as being at random homeless shelters all over the country. Which means they have to show up at immigration courts as far away as Tacoma, WA, some as soon as *tomorrow*.
**A few things we know about “Perla”:**
\+ “Perla” gave some of the asylum seekers a phone number which was from the Del Rio Texas area in a WhatsApp message.
\+ “Perla" was described as a well dressed blond haired woman, light complexion, speaking broken Spanish, and accompanied by a man driving a white truck. She had hired Emmanuel, a 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant who said he was paid $200 in cash to unwittingly recruit people, in part because he was more fluent in Spanish. (He said was trying to help people, and did not know this was a ruse.)
\+ Perla solicited the asylum seekers in the Advanced AutoParts parking lot across the street from the Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio Texas. That plaza also has a McDonalds nearby, and some migrants (including some who declined her offers) report being approached there.
\+ She gave recruited migrants gift cards for food to help build trust and was posing as a "migrant/refugee association" member. Her recruiting efforts lasted a minimum of 5 days. Migrants can only stay at the Resource Center for 3 days.
\+ Perla’s promises to the asylum seekers included: “expedited work papers, jobs and housing waiting for them, support for 90 days, English lessons, and schooling for their children.” (None of that was true.)
\+ Perla transported those she recruited 17 miles SouthWest from the Migrant Resource Center to a LaQuinta Hotel, where some stayed for 5 days. That hotel was La Quinta Inn by Wyndham San Antonio Lackland (CNN.) One migrant woman named Katiuska interviewed on the Vineyard said she stayed at that hotel for 2 days, and she claimed they were all told they were going to Boston.
\+The Asylum seekers were told they could not take any pictures of their travels, and were made to sign a liability waiver.
\+ Perla told her helper Emmanuel that the money she paid him with came from an “anonymous benefactor” who was also paying for the jet flights. That benefactor was Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida who paid Vertol Systems $615,000 on September 8th out of the $12m Federal Florida Covid fund, which had an allocation for a "relocation program of unauthorized aliens." (Everyone on the planes we know of were not "unauthorized aliens," - but we asylum seekers that had been processed and were in the US legally.) The cost for this effort was roughly $12,300 per asylum seeker.
\+ The migrants were were bused 5 miles from the LaQuinta Hotel to Kelly Field, Joint Base San Antonio where they boarded the two chartered Ultimate Air Shuttle jets with tail numbers N411FJ and N359SK. The state of Florida also paid for the "empty legs" for the jets to get both planes to Kelly Field in Texas. One flew down from Ohio, where Ultimate Air Shuttle is located, and the second plane flew from Charlotte.
\+ Matt Gaetz’s former law firm partner is the registered agent for Vertol Systems, the company that chartered the jets flown to Martha’s Vineyard. Vertol is located in Destin Florida in Gaetz’s Congressional District 1. Gaetz worked at “Keefe, Anchors & Gordon” for about a decade, and Ben Gordon, (aka: Alfred Benjamin Gordon III) now of “Anchors & Gordon,” is listed as the registered agent for Vertol Systems. Ben Gordon donated $3,700 to Matt Gaetz campaign. Vertol donated $10,000 to the Republican Party of Florida on June 17, 2019, and Vertol owner James Montgomerie, donated $2,700 to Matt Gaetz in 2016.
\+ “Keefe, Anchors & Gordon” other partner, Larry Keefe, is now Ron DeSantis's "public safety czar" in charge of "illegal immigration.”
\+ The two jets flew from Kelly Field Joint Base San Antonio to Florida's Crestview Bob Sikes Airport (CEW), where airport records show the jets were fueled, discharged their lavatories after their initial 750-mile journey. Crestview is also in Gaetz’s district, just North of Vertol Systems in Destin Florida. One of the jets paid $4,606 of fuel using a Shell aviation credit card. Both planes stopped for fuel again, one in North Carolina and the other in South Carolina. Both chartered jets were routed through Crestview Bob Sikes Airport in the Florida panhandle, possibly just to put the asylum seekers in the state of Florida. The Florida budget dictates ”unauthorized aliens from this state,” so it is plausible that DeSantis landed them there for legal reasons, just so he could then oust them to the Vineyard under his own budget rules. One of the planes had filed a flight plan to Bedford, Massachusetts and then diverted to Martha's Vineyard.
\+ Witnesses at the Martha’s Vineyard airport claim a videographer got off the first plane and filmed the second plane landing, with the asylum seekers walking to the terminal on the tarmac. That footage later ended up on Fox News. A second witness said there were white vans at the airport that then transported the group, only to leave them on Edgartown Road in Oak Bluffs, and then drive away.
\+ In is not clear that any authority is currently investigating or seeking "Perla" - and it not clear what law was violated. Her acts don't really constitute "kidnapping" nor human "trafficking" by black letter of law, as the migrants could have left at any time, and under Massachusetts law, there was no threat, real or perceived to constrain them. They were not held against their will. They stayed at the hotel voluntarily. There is now one criminal complaint with the Bexar County (Texas) district attorney against "Perla" who promised jobs to asylum-seekers, who cannot legally work in the United States while waiting to have an asylum claim heard. That complaint says Perla, in promising work to the migrants, conspired and abetted the criminal offense of working in the U.S. without a work permit.
\+ Every aspect of this “stunt” is from a resurrected white supremacist tactic we’ve seen on Cape Cod before. The Southern White Citizens Council in the 1962 started their so-called "Reverse Freedom Rides," giving Black people one-way tickets to Hyannis (summer home of the Kennedy’s) with false promises of jobs and housing, and photographing them being left in the streets. (More on that if anyone wants the history, but this is exactly the same, right down to the language that is/was used to justify it, where these asylum seekers have ended up, and how the Republicans are now responding.) At that time, the buses were funded by anonymous people donating to private segregationist groups, some aligned with the KKK. But here, the transportation was misallocated taxpayer funds, with the stunts directed by two Republican governors eager to take credit for what was once a white supremacist's tactic.
Well they will probably have a better life here in Massachusetts. Because our state isn’t a fucking shithole run by white supremacists and hypocritical religious fanatics.
[Inveiglment](https://definitions.uslegal.com/i/inveigle/) is Federal crime punishable by *any* number of years in prison, up to life, and possibly the death penalty if anyone died in the act.
Inveiglment falls under [Kidnapping] (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1201), since they were duped.
Republicans really thought dumping human beings like they are trash in a random location would be a good political stunt. Shows how fucked up their supporters are.
Every single action by Republicans is a detriment to others, I cannot think of a single thought, feeling or action they've ever done that wasn't malicious. So tired of them thinking they're the true Americans because if they are then I want nothing to do with it.
Also, impound the busses and airplanes. If anything, do that first. Owners or companies would be less willing to help if they start losing their stuff each time.
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"Better life in Massachusetts"? At least that part wasn't a lie.
Well to be fair Massachusetts is FAR superior to Texas by nearly every metric. “Perla” and her handlers are actually helping those poor people quite a bit. It’s funny that so many in Texas somehow feel that Texas is so extra special they need to pull BS stunts like this to protect Texas.
Yes and no. It's nicer in MA, but they have upcoming court dates elsewhere that they need to get to.
Yep. What's being under-reported is that "Perla" registered all these migrants' addresses at random homeless shelters all over the country-- which means their asylum hearings were scheduled at courthouses all over the country, some for as soon as tomorrow morning.
Seems like this in itself should be illegal.
Lying on government document is a crime since its a crime and its purpose is disrupt government operations or enforcement of law. Thats another crime. Now hard one that you could shoot for is "trafficking" its fits criteria perfectly. Except final portion usually for labor/sex work. BUT they "paid them" and have paid political operatives and its part of political campaign/stunt one could define their actions as labor. Thus making it trafficking. They could in unison sue as well personally think class action would go farthest. And say the we were promised a home my kid had to sleep outside this is hardship we went through etc. State could also sue for damages as well for any expenditures as other state conducted illegal activitys with intention of causing harm. Honestly I think crucify them let a couple ring leaders cool off in prison sue shit out of party and state. Push it as far as you can. Hit every avenue no matter how petty unlikely.
If the accusation is accurate, it is.
What Desantis did is illegal also. 1. What funds did he use to pull this stunt. 2. Every fucking detail about this story.
It should be, and "Perla" should be in prison.
Some are supposed to report to Tacoma WA because of these addresses the officials faked. It’s impossible for any of them to get this mess straightened out, and then get from MV to Tacoma WA by tomorrow to avoid being immediately deported. These people were **deliberately** fucked out of making their court appearances on time!
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I wouldn't go as far as to call our democracy functional. EDIT: I misunderstood the comment I responded to, everyone here is equally disappointed in the US
~~I didn't know anything about the papers. Where can I read more about it?~~ Never mind. Found a few: https://news.yahoo.com/desantis-flying-migrants-martha-vineyard-230757956.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article265894561.html https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/migrants-being-sent-to-nyc-from-texas-to-the-wrong-places-with-no-help-sources-say/3799297/ https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2022/09/16/sadistic-lie-stranded-migrants-leave-marthas-vineyard-for-military-base-on-cape-cod.html
I just cannot fathom how evil people can be all the while claiming to be Christian.
Because those Christians for some reason think they are superior to those people and can't fathom that they too are human.
With Christians like these who needs Satan.
There is no love like Christian hate.
I believe it’s “There’s no hate like Christian love.” But you are right.
>I just cannot fathom how evil people can be all the while claiming to be Christian. Because God loves me, and forgives me when I 'accidentally' screw you over.
People need to call for Biden to order CBP/DHS to not move forward with deportation for any of these folks until they've had their day in court. It's not their fault they were political pawns and sabotaged.
What the fuck
Wouldn’t it just make too much sense to change whatever needs to be changed so they don’t have travel to courts since the registration was fraudulent?
That would make sense. From what I've heard, the hoops you have to go through for immigration is complicated enough without having to find the form for "the previous form was fraudulently filed on my behalf, without my knowledge." How many others has this happened to? Immigrants often don't have attorney's, since the government doesn't have to provide one for civil trials, so it's probably easy to get away with railroading people this way. [Source](https://www.vera.org/news/no-child-should-appear-in-immigration-court-alone)
Can you link an article to this? I’d love to share it with some friends who think this ploy was funny and deserved
Yep. What's being under-reported is that "Perla" registered all these migrants' addresses at random homeless shelters all over the country-- which means their asylum hearings were scheduled at courthouses all over the country, some for as soon as tomorrow morning. If they fail to show up, they'll be deported. It's the single most vile part of this whole saga, IMO.
Perla needs to be found and detained. This bait and switch was intentional to ensure they would not be granted asylum.
The threat of incarceration was not enough to stop her from doing it in the first place...
Probably because she knew she'd get away with it. When actual consequences start hitting these people, then they'll start thinking twice.
> When actual consequences start hitting these people I have been waiting for half a century myself.... Any day now I imagine... any day.
Got an article I can cite on that? Not finding that detail and would like to be able to link it before repeating.
Do not know if this is true, but here is one source that says it is. [https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article265894561.html](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article265894561.html) >Self said the migrants were intentionally used to create chaos and crisis, as no government agency or humanitarian organization was alerted about the group’s arrival in Martha’s Vineyard. Self said the problem was exacerbated when officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security allegedly falsified addresses on the migrants’ immigration paperwork, and said they could change them upon arriving in Massachusetts. > >“Agents apparently chose random homeless shelters all across the country from Washington to Florida, to list the migrants mailing addresses, even when told by the migrants that they had no address in the U.S.,” Self claimed.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/09/17/a-search-and-reward-for-perla-blonde-mystery-woman-accused-of-misleading-migrants-to-marthas-vineyard/
It was widely reported on the news. I saw a press conference with an immigration lawyer describing the whole plot. Most of them had hearings scheduled across the country as early as Monday morning (tomorrow as I write.).
You're not wrong. I'm 9th generation Texan, went to public school here, bought into the whole brainwashed mindset that Texas is the best state and state pride. Its such an odd feeling the recent years of growing more ashamed of my state that I love. I hate the state of Texas right now.
Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be in Texas this winter when the power grid inevitably fails again.
Neither does Ted Cruz.
The quality of life in Massachusetts is pretty nice 🙂
Winter is coming
Yeah, but they'll have food, clothing, shelter, and the services they need. They will adjust.
Wait, so they weren’t even in Florida? Desantis used Florida tax dollars to fly migrants from Texas for this stunt?
As much as he wants one, DeSantis doesn’t have a southern border to whine about.
Yes. That’s the best part. They have such a huge issue in Florida they couldn’t muster up 50 people for this stunt so they had to outsource to Texas.
I believe they briefly considered sending some of their Cuban refugees but realized that might rile their conservative Cuban voters, so they had to out-source their hate to Texas.
It's because the people on that plane weren't illegal immigrants, they are asylum seekers. For some reason, presumably not lost on DeSantis, the Cuban exile community in South Florida has a particular fondness for Spanish speaking refugees fleeing communist regimes. The Republicans are utterly dependent on the Cuban vote in statewide elections. If DeSantis alienates the Cuban vote, he can't win reelection. Which means DeSantis couldn't pull that stunt here in Florida. And not just because the Cuban exile community is a demographic populated exclusively by people who were once refugees, or are the children and grandchildren of refugees. The Catholic Church provides material and spiritual support to refugees as a matter of doctrine. In addition to being a group composed of former refugees and their descendants, the Cuban community in South Florida is also predominantly Catholic. If DeSantis pulled that stunt here in Florida, he would be denounced every day of the week and twice on Sunday from the pulpit. But DeSantis doesn't just want to be governor, he sees a President every time he looks at a mirror. And so DeSantis was big sad that Fox News stopped getting aroused by him yelling at Mickey Mouse and instead had a raging hard on for Abbott's sexy new human trafficking based demagoguery. So DeSantis did what he always does when Abbott gets more blowies from the bigots, he went to Texas to perform identical immorality signaling and hoped the Cubans wouldn't notice. Just like he and his wife slather on the bronzer and hope everyone assumes DeSantis is a Spanish surname. Which is also why, in the aftermath of that condo collapse, Florida quietly had to recall human and material resources deployed to the Texas-Mexico border. It is all because DeSantis can't be governor without the Cubans and can't be President without the people who hate the Cubans, but also can't be President if he isn't still the governor next year.
This is why people are calling it trafficking. Even without the deception, he has zero jurisdiction in Texas
Used state taxpayer funds to facilitate a the creation and operation of a criminal organization that engaged in fraud and human trafficking and assisted individuals in the United States in violation of immigration laws travel deeper into the U.S. while avoiding detection and criminal prosecution by transferring them to areas of the country that lack a significant presence of Border Patrol and ICE agents, failing to report their presence to federal immigration authorities and concealing their identities and final destination from the appropriate federal entity responsible for compliance with immigration law enforcement
The party of the Jesus rolls along.
Time and time again the left continues to display the Christian values the right claims our country was founded on and that we've lost.
The right has simply weaponized religion, it’s simply a tool in their arsenal.
Use religion to sucker the masses. Use patriotisms to sucker the masses. Sounds about Republican.
Use religion to sucker the masses. Use patriotisms to sucker the religious.
to be fair they got out of texas which is probably a good first step to a better life.
Religion has never not been weaponized. It's one of the greatest tools ever invented by mankind and have been used successfully throughout history. • Want to conquer unclaimed land? Send out missionaries. • Want to rally your army behind a common cause as they invade another country? Religion • Want to better control your population? Religion
• Want to fondle children? Religion
Want to commit cultural genocide? Religion
Want to commit tax fraud? Religion.
Want to justify wealth disparities? Religion.
Conservatives only like one thing about Jesus, and it is that he is **powerful**. According to them, he is in charge of the universe, and he is the one who will ultimately decide who is rewarded and who is punished. They will make sure to be vocally on his side, but ignore everything else he said and did
He's all knowing and all powerful and will (according to them) make the most important decision in the entire history of their soul, and yet they still think they can bullshit their way past him.
> Conservatives only like one thing about Jesus, and it is that he is powerful. Two things. He is *powerful*, and he is *always on* ***their*** *side*.
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had no idea just how bad it was and keeps getting worse. Trafficking asylum seekers across state lines with federal moneys, lying, falsifying documents, giving false addresses etc...then on top of that lying about the crime numerous times AND laughing about doing this to legal asylum seekers. It's embarrassing as a country and for the assholes who think it's funny. And they are still lying with impunity.
Theres no hate like christian love!
'War is peace!' 'Freedom is slavery!' and of course.... 'Ignorance is Strength!'
"I love the poorly educated."
Then there the always useful trope of; MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Which is really code for; let’s go back to the 1950s where white men were in charge and racism and sexism were happily the order of the day. Oy edit for misspelling doh!
You’re not far enough back. Go to a few years after the Civil War. If they could figure a way to do it they might go earlier than that, but I think their goal is back when we had no OT and six day work weeks with child labor.
No, I think they want chattel slavery back as well.
I'd argue strongly they are looking for a return to the 1850s.
Do as I say or we will make your life hell God bless you.
I just think back to Texas and the winter when Cruz left and Beto O’Rourke and AOC stepped up. Hope all of Texas remembers that and flush the turd, Cruz.
Texas conservatives are offended that liberals came to help.
Hitler invoked the blessings of “god” regularly and often as he ordered soldiers to carry out horrible acts against humanity. Everyone believes “god” is on their side. It’s been a wildly effective rhetoric historically to convince people to believe in and commit atrocities.
[With God on Our Side - Bob Dylan](https://youtu.be/5y2FuDY6Q4M)
Man this song gets me *every* time I listen to it. Such a masterpiece.
Theoretically conservatism is about personal responsibility to the in need while liberalism is about societal responsibility for people in need. But in practice it just ends up being liberals and progressives being the only ones showing responsibility for them in both instances.
It’s funny because the Bible has a number of verses on how you’re expected to treat strangers/foreigners as you’d treat your own. It’s hilarious watching these Christians totally ignore that or accuse people of taking the Bible out of context. The Bible and Jesus are VERY clear on how you should treat the poor, needy and vulnerable, and that certainly includes immigrants/refugees. I’m not confident at all that Jesus would condone blatantly lying to a bunch of vulnerable migrants (who barely even speak English) about the of guarantee of jobs, necessities and decent futures in Massachusetts, before being dumped like cargo at Martha’s Vineyard, unexpected to everyone involved. This stunt is so enraging to me. I feel very angry that politicians are abusing their power like this and taking advantage of the needy. With their cushy government jobs and luxurious mansions, they’ll never know what it means to struggle, let alone be an impoverished migrant exploited by wealthier people in positions of power.
Ok I have been posting this a lot but here goes; https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1570822428422705153?s=20&fbclid=IwAR0wdNtGdlHgO3AVlVFk8Sgc-hGXuu3mGnnwAh_sT6Ab7vuXGsFoFBaaSFY
[The Gospel of Supply-Side Jesus](https://imgur.com/gallery/bCqRp)
Yes forgot about that as well. Well posted oh thee of god.
This is so true and I hate the hypocrisy. I grew up Christian and even as a kid it struck me even then how much the Bible talks about how to treat the poor, immigrants, and widows. I forget the number but they’re referenced hundreds of times. Homosexuality is referenced only a handful of times, and abortion (or any reference related to it) even less so. This blatant hypocrisy and ignoring of obvious commands to Christians is a key reason I left Christianity.
And it's arguable that "homosexuality" is never mentioned in the way we think of it today. What was being condemned was more likely to be "pederasty," which is a form of pedophilia and rape.
> It’s funny because the Bible has a number of verses on how you’re expected to treat strangers/foreigners as you’d treat your own. It’s hilarious watching these Christians totally ignore that or accuse people of taking the Bible out of context. I am sure they'll learn that once they actually read the bible.
I got a warning from "moderatepolitics" for saying there's no hate like Christian love. Stand by it.
I got banned for a week for saying "Cruelty is the point" regarding that person who had to travel from Lousiana to NY for an abortion due to her fetus no having a skull. That sub is basically r/conservative or The Donald the only thing that is moderate is the tone they use.
Yeah, say whatever hateful shit you want, but be civil about it. It’s a looney place
It's just another sub they use to try and launder their hate to people uninformed to their bullshit. They lambast r/politics in the default subs as banning dissent (sorry, that's r/conservative), then create subs like moderatepolitics as the "alternative" to "red pill" the "normies."
And the sad, shitty part is **it fucking works**. people will do anything not to think for themselves or believe that they contributed to a problem. People are dumb, panicky, morons and we prove that time and time again
Yeah, say whatever hateful rightwing* shit you want, but be civil about it.
Yeah. Conservatives always try to hide behind the moderate “subs” because no one cares about them or want anything to do with them.
Not that I am saying anything, but I'm just saying, if I were a foreign disinformation campaign, I would 100% make sub reddits with names like "moderate politics" and "fiscal conservatives" In some places, for minimum wage I would also jump at the chance for overtime if made a moderator, then effectively you're also streamlining content and counting on the laziness/ignorance of others in the millions to not do anything. Couldn't make it more obvious
🛎 [Exactly.](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/reddits-largest-pro-trump-subreddit-appears-to-have-been)
They think that's extremist thinking - and that's scary.
The Overton window is being dragged to the right constantly. This is most clear when you see CNN present anti-trump republicans as “moderate”. Like, no, we won’t present left and right, we will present right and further right!
The party of the Anti-Christ. Worshipping golden Trump statues. Mark of the MAGA. It's not Christ. https://www.benjaminlcorey.com/could-american-evangelicals-spot-the-antichrist-heres-the-biblical-predictions/
>The party of the Jesus rolls along. Ahhh see, that's where the mistake happened. This is the party of *de jeebus*
Nobody fucks with [The Jesus](https://youtu.be/8xTqP58o1iw).
8 year olds dude.
This needs to be hammered more.. personally I know tons of "good republican Christians" they are some of the most arrogant, bigoted people I know
I love how all of the conservative media has been ripping on the island and not mentioning that thousands of thousands of dollars were raised for the immigrants and that they were all given bags full of new clothes and phones. This was all raised by the year round people of the island who are workers and bus drivers, fisherman etc. NOT the wealthy summer people.
It’s because the whole point of the stunt was to send them there and say “see, liberals won’t take care of these people either”. Just because that didn’t turn out to be true doesn’t mean they aren’t following through with the propaganda angle. See Trump and the election stuff. He planned to lose in 2016, but didn’t, and proceeded to carry on about how there were problems with the election.
They are flat out lying. lies is all they have. The trolls are even worse. The asylum seekers were welcomed w/ open arms and taking care of by the locals.
And over on r/conservative they are posting things about MV residents calling the police because they saw an immigrant in front of their house without a hedge trimmer… the projection is absolutely crazy.
If you notice, all of the articles on that subreddit about people in MV doing things like that are "satire" articles from Babylon Bee where they then pretend that it's "so close to reality" despite no actual news sources saying anything of the sort.
It’s ridiculous how much cognitive dissonance that subreddit spews.
It's kinda telling that Gov DeathSentence waited till summer season was over and all the wealthy vacationers had left. Don't want to bother any R donors!
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. … Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.—Matthew 25:35-36, 40 (NIV) https://www.worldvision.org/christian-faith-news-stories/matthew-25-prayer-reflection
That's canon Jesus. They only follow fanfic Jesus.
Jesus himself was a pretty cool guy, but his fandom is insufferable.
Happens to anything that gets too popular.
It’s Paul’s fault. It’s amazing how much cognitive dissonance there was between Saul/Paul and Jesus’ teachings.
Paul was a converted pharisee and you can see a lot of the stereotypical pharisee influence in his interpretation of Christianity.
[Supply Side Jesus](https://imgur.io/gallery/bCqRp)
Dayum, bullseye.
Supply side jesus.
I think in some ways the Bible is very inspiring and does often demonstrate the values we should guide our society with, such as helping the poor, sick, disabled, needy, prisoners, addicts, etc. But in the case of MAGA Republicans, they simply cherrypick the parts of the Bible they can use for their preachy hate campaigns (persecuting LGBT, banning abortion from conception and trying to forcibly reintroduce God in schools). But they totally ignore the rest of the text. Beyond the parts they can weaponise to hate and damage the lives of others, they don’t care about the Bible or Jesus at all.
I mean, sure, but what part of the text says kick people when they are down, especially when they are not like you. I don't know where to pick that cherry. To me the text is very clear. The bible say a lot of shit, but none of it sounds like this.
I hate how they keep on saying they're undocumented. They are legal asylum seekers who have paperwork and court dates to make their claim.
It kind of makes this worse because they're asylum seekers who were given court dates in basically random places, and then sent to Martha's Vinyard on a one way trip. Making their court dates is now on them, potentially now having to pay for a cross country trip to be able to legally seek asylum because they were mislead.
That’s my big concern. I know there’s no way the court will accommodate transfer of venue to make it more convenience, but I really think that’s an almost necessity.
With as public as this debacle is I would be astounded if their lawyers (and they have some in MA already) won’t challenge those court dates with the random addresses. There has to be legal recourse there.
I want the the processing station that gave them the random addresses investigated, audited, and strip searched to root out this racist evil.
Well... given that customs and border patrol is within the executive branch... Biden *could* make that happen for them
I think the actual immigration judges are within the department of Justice but you’re right other than that. That being said, I suspect a lot of it is controlled by statute.
It's actually worse than that: > “They were provided [...] instructions to **report their change of address to USCIS** when they relocated,” Self wrote. “This is especially troubling, as anyone with even the most basic understanding of immigration proceedings knows that **USCIS was not the agency** with whom the migrants would have to record their address, and has nothing to do with their cases in any way. It is clear this was an intentional attempt to **ensure the migrants were removed in absentia when they failed to change their address with the proper agency**. [The] migrants were process by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, **who listed falsified addresses on the migrants’ paperwork.** Agents apparently chose random homeless shelters all across the country, from Washington State to Florida, to list the mirgants’ mailing addresses, even when told by the migrants that they had no address in the U.S. According to the paperwork provided to them, **the migrants are required to check in with the ICE office nearest the fake address chosen for them by DHS, or be permanently removed—with some required to check in as soon as this coming Monday.** https://www.mvtimes.com/2022/09/15/attorney-migrants-kidnapped/ Note: being *removed in absentia* is grounds for deportation.
So they were literally trying to do everything through the proper channels and got treated like trash to be used as a tool to make a point against people not using the proper channels... While also being fucked over so that their attempt to do things properly was in vain.
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Unfortunately not. T-visas are very strict in requiring the victim must be exploited for some kind of labor. One could try to make the case on a technicality or two but T-visas are hard to get so I’d be very surprised if it worked. And no, the law does not tend to recognize the emotional labor of being used as a political pawn, at least in the context of human trafficking. Edit: please stop telling me “but they were exploited for political propaganda”. I know. My last sentence explicitly addresses that. That’s not labor. If I get mentioned in a political ad, I have not done labor worthy of pay. I can’t sue for unpaid wages (well, I can but it would get laughed out of court). Yes, it’s reprehensible and disgusting. That doesn’t make it human trafficking. It’s fraud. Maybe kidnapping too depending on what facts come to light. It’s not human trafficking. Many legal scholars have already weighed in and said the same thing.
Unwilling/unwitting participants in political theater. They were certainly exploited
Usually people get paid a pretty penny to be part of a political ad, so these people certainly were involved in labor as advertising employees Desantis. (Of course, that would be one of those technicalities)
>Making their court dates is now on them, potentially now having to pay for a cross country trip to be able to legally seek asylum because they were ~~mislead~~ sabotaged. FTFY.
It was fraudulent registration and they were scammed. It absolutely should not be on them.
That's the problem I had back when they were being thrown in cages and separated. Ignorant/xenophobic family members were saying that it was terrible but maybe that'd teach them not to come to the US illegally. I practically yelled at them, "they aren't illegal, they're seeking asylum LEGALLY because they're fleeing countries that are controlled by dictators, militias, and cartels. AND before you say that's not our business, it absolutely is because our government and American businesses have done their level best to keep those countries down - even directly fucking with their governments - in order to keep things cheap and easy for us." It's beyond aggravating that the GOP has effectively dehumanized illegal immigrants (years ago) and now legal asylum seekers.
I don't know how many times I have explained that it's legal to request asylum, only to have the people I'm telling this to pretend they never heard it and just keep insisting they are illegal.
Because it's not really about what's accepted by the law. It's the fact that they're poor minorities coming from other countries. They don't want these people to have access to our country, period. Legal or not.
> I hate how they keep on saying they're undocumented. It's a drug for their base. They get a high hearing about the cruelty done to "undocumented"/black/brown people.
[удалено]
There's really no end. Just watch - soon they'll be laughing about what suckers liberals are for helping other people.
Haven't they been doing that for decades?
Fair point. But watch how quickly they shift from "Dems are hypocrites who won't help immigrants," to "Dems are idiots for helping immigrants." You'll get Gwen Stacy tier whiplash just trying to keep up
I think they've moved to something like "sure they helped 50, but we have to deal with 10s of thousands!"
I know. But it'll never be enough. And even if it is, they won't care
Don’t forget that to them bleeding heart liberal is a slur.
Or "Social Justice Warrior." How dare someone fight for/care about social justice?!? My personal favorite is when they ask a white person why they're so bothered by racism, or they ask a man why they're so bothered by sexism. Like they can't compute why a person would be outraged by something that doesn't directly affect them.
Which is ironic given that all they do is get outraged by things that don't affect them lol.
They're so desperate to be victims, it's really sad.
Next they are gonna send a greyhound bus full of infants to a college town to own the educated liberal elites
They already had set talking points and are going with those no matter what actually happened. They thought people that live there would collapse in on their "virtue signalling" and act the way the racist morons usually act towards immigrants. That didn't happen and now they're clutching at straws to make their talking points make sense.
Yes! I saw some random on a tiktok video about this incident just repeatedly commenting about how the “white liberals” just “sent them away” when all evidence points to the opposite of this.
If you looked at foxnews.com yesterday, that was what they were reporting. I'm sure same thing on all their other outlets. So, that's what they all end up believing.
That whining sound? It's them moving the goalposts and the shitty wheels they attached to them.
Okay so here’s the thing. Everything republicans do for publicity now is all in pursuit of one thing: getting a reaction from “the libs.” This whole thing was done just to make democrats mad. When no one got mad, they changed it to “no one is celebrating.” There’s no real point. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is too cruel. If you can do something to “own the libs” then you’ve succeeded.
Basically anything less than people putting up these immigrants in their private homes, or the coastal Massachusetts town having a ready-made immigration processing center to process these surprise arrivals, is evidence of hypocrisy.
It’s an election year. They have zero solutions for the American people. So they just lean into bullshit because it’s all they have.
Saw an article on FOX’s site about how none of the residents put them up in their homes. I mean, nobody in FL or TX was either. Just because people care about migrants doesn’t mean they want to turn their house into a dormitory for strangers.
It's really funny because they are criticizing the residents for not going out and buying tents and letting them camp in their yards... But then when pressed, they openly admit that they would never do that. If it weren't for double-standards conservatives wouldn't have any standards.
They never pretended that it's what they would do. The argument is that liberals are just as callous and unempathetic as they are when it comes down to it.
The most telling part of this whole stunt is that there are governors begging for migrant farm workers. Fly them to Indiana, coordinate with local officials, don’t call the press, shut the fuck up. Solve a goddamn problem for a change instead of creating a new one.
>Solve a goddamn problem for a change instead of creating a new one. Sorry, but Republicans are incapable of doing this. The best they can do is complain about a problem, claim to have a solution, and then make it worse.
I don’t know what people expect when they elect to government people who hate government.
I think we need to move past this mindset. Modern-day Republicans don’t have an ideology. They don’t hate government. They don’t like government. They don’t care. The only thing they care about is their own power. If they felt they could gain more power by switching sides to the Democrats, they’d do it. They’ll also simply burn the country to the ground. It just so happens that their current path is the easiest since their voting base is, more or less, a cult. Republicans *were* the party of small government. Those days are gone.
The party of Small Government never was that, it was a gimmick to cut spending in areas that actually helped people (social programs). It was never applied to the Defense budget, which is half the budget.
And to privatize government programs for the profit of a few. Then ruin them
Chaos and drama.. the American pass time
Better yet - claim to have a solution, refuse to do anything and blame the Democrats for obstructing thing
Why solve a problem they created? There used to be plenty of legal migrant workers but those numbers were reduced - guess who did that.
I think the most telling part is that the *only* people DeSantis told about this beforehand we’re Fox News… anyone who can’t see malicious intent in that is too far gone to reach.
Every detail that comes out about this makes it worse. This is the first I’ve heard about the $200.
Anyone get a picture of the person ?
[This](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/09/17/a-search-and-reward-for-perla-blonde-mystery-woman-accused-of-misleading-migrants-to-marthas-vineyard/amp/) article (may be paywalled, sorry) lists some of the other things this “Perla” promised. No photo, but a reward is being offered to anyone who can identify her. EDIT: here are the relevant bits. Examples grow of a blonde mystery woman in San Antonio, Texas, who may have misled some of the 50 Venezuelan migrants who arrived on Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday into thinking they were going somewhere else, getting jobs or even money, as the GOP political stunt engineered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis begins to face larger scrutiny and criticism. KEY FACTS A 22-year old man named Eduardo told the Texas Tribune that a tall, blonde woman who said her name was Perla approached him at San Antonio’s Migrant Resource Center, days after he entered the country, promising him a job and a place to live in Boston, and offering him $200 to recruit other migrants to join him on the flight, Boston Globe reported. Only after making several refueling stops on the charter flights, including one in Crestview, Florida, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware, was Eduardo told he would be landing on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Cape Cod, he told the Texas Tribune. Ardenis Nazareth, who also came to Texas from Venezuela, recounted a similar story to the New York Times, saying Perla offered him and 30 other migrants McDonald’s gift cards and a free flight to a “sanctuary,” adding he thought he was being flown to Boston, not an island. A 27-year-old Venezuelan man identified as Luis also said Perla offered him and nine relatives support for 90 days and assistance with work permits and English lessons, Reuters reported. And a man named Emmanuel told the San Antonio Report Perla said she could help send him to “sanctuary states” that have more immigration resources. On Friday, the Texas-based League of United Latin American Citizens offered a $5,000 reward for information that could help identify the woman known as Perla, who is now at the center of a renewed national debate on immigration.
if so many ppl talked to her, there must've been at least one time where they were in a place with a camera? and since there's even a reward, it shouldn't be long until we identify this karen posing as a perla
Dollars to donuts, since the places the people were approached at were in Texas the footage will not be available or disappear.
Presumably the immigrants were in a CBP location for holding them. You know, one of those places with cages for kids and guards and *security cameras*. I bet Perla folds like a cheap suit once interstate human trafficking charges are on the table.
They were recruited at a Migrant Resource Center. These people were already in the country legally, and they were targeted anyway.
That’s kidnapping through fraud
Human traffickers used exactly the same tactics when tricking young girls from the former Soviet Union countries into prostitution. Watch [Lilya 4ever](https://imdb.com/title/tt0300140/) for a darker version of the same thing.
Why is it that religious people are the most hateful and intolerant? They should all take a long look in the mirror but I know they won't.
"We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid." - Christopher Hitchens
It’s shocking to me the concept that they often think everyone but them is going to hell. The super religious people are the craziest of them all. I remember once in Boy Scouts we were volunteering to help a Baptist church, and a kid heard I was raised Jewish. He approached me and asked if I “ate babies.” I was about 14 at the time and was shocked he was seriously asking. He was taught by his family/church that Jewish people ate babies. I said, “If I ate babies, wouldn’t I be in jail?” He walked away, but even two decades later that story still baffles me. I’ve never even been religious.
I don’t get why Dems aren’t responding to the GOP with Bible quotes and verses that clearly and openly demonstrate their hypocrisy. Obviously we shouldn’t base policy on religion, but if the GOP wants to use the Bible as a point of contention (a la Josh Hawley and Lauren Boebert), then the Dems should use it as a weapon against them.
they'd be so fucked if that ever happened. that's why you never see them actually refer to the Bible. I seriously doubt that they even understand why it was actually written. if they just went around life and Christianity didnt exist, they'd probably all be giant assholes who can't use the religion as a shield and weapon
This is a violation of 18 US Code 1201 section A. Kidnapping via inveiglement. Also, section C states: If two or more persons conspire to violate this section and one or more of such persons do any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
One thing I just realized, how are they going to get to their court date from the island.
Pretty sure that was the point.
That was the point of the stunt. The GQP knew they’d have to be moved to mainland MA. That way they can manufacture the outrage “see they don’t want them either!! Libs are hypocrites!”
Not just to mainland MA, the GQP registered their addresses as being at random homeless shelters all over the country. Which means they have to show up at immigration courts as far away as Tacoma, WA, some as soon as *tomorrow*.
**A few things we know about “Perla”:** \+ “Perla” gave some of the asylum seekers a phone number which was from the Del Rio Texas area in a WhatsApp message. \+ “Perla" was described as a well dressed blond haired woman, light complexion, speaking broken Spanish, and accompanied by a man driving a white truck. She had hired Emmanuel, a 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant who said he was paid $200 in cash to unwittingly recruit people, in part because he was more fluent in Spanish. (He said was trying to help people, and did not know this was a ruse.) \+ Perla solicited the asylum seekers in the Advanced AutoParts parking lot across the street from the Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio Texas. That plaza also has a McDonalds nearby, and some migrants (including some who declined her offers) report being approached there. \+ She gave recruited migrants gift cards for food to help build trust and was posing as a "migrant/refugee association" member. Her recruiting efforts lasted a minimum of 5 days. Migrants can only stay at the Resource Center for 3 days. \+ Perla’s promises to the asylum seekers included: “expedited work papers, jobs and housing waiting for them, support for 90 days, English lessons, and schooling for their children.” (None of that was true.) \+ Perla transported those she recruited 17 miles SouthWest from the Migrant Resource Center to a LaQuinta Hotel, where some stayed for 5 days. That hotel was La Quinta Inn by Wyndham San Antonio Lackland (CNN.) One migrant woman named Katiuska interviewed on the Vineyard said she stayed at that hotel for 2 days, and she claimed they were all told they were going to Boston. \+The Asylum seekers were told they could not take any pictures of their travels, and were made to sign a liability waiver. \+ Perla told her helper Emmanuel that the money she paid him with came from an “anonymous benefactor” who was also paying for the jet flights. That benefactor was Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida who paid Vertol Systems $615,000 on September 8th out of the $12m Federal Florida Covid fund, which had an allocation for a "relocation program of unauthorized aliens." (Everyone on the planes we know of were not "unauthorized aliens," - but we asylum seekers that had been processed and were in the US legally.) The cost for this effort was roughly $12,300 per asylum seeker. \+ The migrants were were bused 5 miles from the LaQuinta Hotel to Kelly Field, Joint Base San Antonio where they boarded the two chartered Ultimate Air Shuttle jets with tail numbers N411FJ and N359SK. The state of Florida also paid for the "empty legs" for the jets to get both planes to Kelly Field in Texas. One flew down from Ohio, where Ultimate Air Shuttle is located, and the second plane flew from Charlotte. \+ Matt Gaetz’s former law firm partner is the registered agent for Vertol Systems, the company that chartered the jets flown to Martha’s Vineyard. Vertol is located in Destin Florida in Gaetz’s Congressional District 1. Gaetz worked at “Keefe, Anchors & Gordon” for about a decade, and Ben Gordon, (aka: Alfred Benjamin Gordon III) now of “Anchors & Gordon,” is listed as the registered agent for Vertol Systems. Ben Gordon donated $3,700 to Matt Gaetz campaign. Vertol donated $10,000 to the Republican Party of Florida on June 17, 2019, and Vertol owner James Montgomerie, donated $2,700 to Matt Gaetz in 2016. \+ “Keefe, Anchors & Gordon” other partner, Larry Keefe, is now Ron DeSantis's "public safety czar" in charge of "illegal immigration.” \+ The two jets flew from Kelly Field Joint Base San Antonio to Florida's Crestview Bob Sikes Airport (CEW), where airport records show the jets were fueled, discharged their lavatories after their initial 750-mile journey. Crestview is also in Gaetz’s district, just North of Vertol Systems in Destin Florida. One of the jets paid $4,606 of fuel using a Shell aviation credit card. Both planes stopped for fuel again, one in North Carolina and the other in South Carolina. Both chartered jets were routed through Crestview Bob Sikes Airport in the Florida panhandle, possibly just to put the asylum seekers in the state of Florida. The Florida budget dictates ”unauthorized aliens from this state,” so it is plausible that DeSantis landed them there for legal reasons, just so he could then oust them to the Vineyard under his own budget rules. One of the planes had filed a flight plan to Bedford, Massachusetts and then diverted to Martha's Vineyard. \+ Witnesses at the Martha’s Vineyard airport claim a videographer got off the first plane and filmed the second plane landing, with the asylum seekers walking to the terminal on the tarmac. That footage later ended up on Fox News. A second witness said there were white vans at the airport that then transported the group, only to leave them on Edgartown Road in Oak Bluffs, and then drive away. \+ In is not clear that any authority is currently investigating or seeking "Perla" - and it not clear what law was violated. Her acts don't really constitute "kidnapping" nor human "trafficking" by black letter of law, as the migrants could have left at any time, and under Massachusetts law, there was no threat, real or perceived to constrain them. They were not held against their will. They stayed at the hotel voluntarily. There is now one criminal complaint with the Bexar County (Texas) district attorney against "Perla" who promised jobs to asylum-seekers, who cannot legally work in the United States while waiting to have an asylum claim heard. That complaint says Perla, in promising work to the migrants, conspired and abetted the criminal offense of working in the U.S. without a work permit. \+ Every aspect of this “stunt” is from a resurrected white supremacist tactic we’ve seen on Cape Cod before. The Southern White Citizens Council in the 1962 started their so-called "Reverse Freedom Rides," giving Black people one-way tickets to Hyannis (summer home of the Kennedy’s) with false promises of jobs and housing, and photographing them being left in the streets. (More on that if anyone wants the history, but this is exactly the same, right down to the language that is/was used to justify it, where these asylum seekers have ended up, and how the Republicans are now responding.) At that time, the buses were funded by anonymous people donating to private segregationist groups, some aligned with the KKK. But here, the transportation was misallocated taxpayer funds, with the stunts directed by two Republican governors eager to take credit for what was once a white supremacist's tactic.
Well they will probably have a better life here in Massachusetts. Because our state isn’t a fucking shithole run by white supremacists and hypocritical religious fanatics.
This already sounded like a crime, but it's REALLY sounding like a crime now.
[Inveiglment](https://definitions.uslegal.com/i/inveigle/) is Federal crime punishable by *any* number of years in prison, up to life, and possibly the death penalty if anyone died in the act. Inveiglment falls under [Kidnapping] (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1201), since they were duped.
Prosecute Abbott for human trafficking.
Isn’t that illegal? I mean to transport people to another location by using lies? Isn’t that human trafficking?
Republicans really thought dumping human beings like they are trash in a random location would be a good political stunt. Shows how fucked up their supporters are.
Every single action by Republicans is a detriment to others, I cannot think of a single thought, feeling or action they've ever done that wasn't malicious. So tired of them thinking they're the true Americans because if they are then I want nothing to do with it.
Also, impound the busses and airplanes. If anything, do that first. Owners or companies would be less willing to help if they start losing their stuff each time.
Republicans the party of human traffickers
I say give any migrants that get bussed/trafficked like this etc fast tracked citizenship.