MA National Guard Activated To Aid Martha's Vineyard Migrants

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA — Gov. Charlie Baker will activate the National Guard to assist the 50 men, women and children shipped Wednesday to Martha's Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Baker said Friday morning the migrants will be transferred to a shelter at Joint Base Cape Cod in Buzzard's Bay. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will coordinate food and other services for them. About 125 National Guard members will assist, Baker said.

Residents, churches and nonprofits on Martha's Vineyard have been providing food and shelter to the migrants since their arrival Wednesday afternoon — so much that Edgartown police asked residents to stop making donations. But Baker said the island is not equipped to offer longer-term support to the new residents.

“While Wednesday’s arrival on Martha’s Vineyard was unexpected, the extraordinary response was not,” Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy said in a news release. “The work of so many state and local partners exemplify the best values of our Commonwealth, providing safe shelter, food and care for individuals that had been through a long harrowing journey.”

Joint Base Cape Cod has been used as an emergency shelter in the past, including during COVID-19 and after Hurricane Katrina.

Elected officials in Massachusetts have harshly criticized DeSantis, calling him "depraved" for using humans as a political weapon. Questions have also arisen about where the migrants actually came from.

DeSantis said the flights to Martha's Vineyard were part of an effort to “transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.” The Florida Legislature has earmarked $12 million to transport “unauthorized aliens” out of state.

DeSantis’ office didn’t answer questions about where migrants boarded planes and how they were coaxed into making the trip.

Massachusetts state Sen. Julian Cyr told The Vineyard Gazette that one plane originated in San Antonio. Flight tracking data shows a flight originated in San Antonio, stopped in Crestview, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina, before landing in Martha’s Vineyard.

The governors of Texas and Arizona have sent thousands of migrants on buses to New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., in recent months. But the latest surprise moves — which included two buses of migrants sent to Vice President Kamala Harris' home — reached a new level of political theater that critics derided as inhumane.

The two buses of migrants from Texas that arrived early Thursday outside Harris’ residence at the United States Naval Observatory carried more than 100 migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report