Watch: ’60 Minutes’ goes deep on Martha’s Winery migrant incident

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Florida paid greater than $600,000 for a political stunt that despatched migrants to Martha’s Winery aboard non-public jets final 12 months, “60 Minutes” reported.

Early on Sept. 14, 2022, dozens of newly arrived migrants lined up on a tarmac in San Antonio, Texas, and had been led onto non-public jets with no express vacation spot.

Their arrival on Martha’s Winery hours later got here as a shock not solely to the island’s residents — who had no prior warning — but additionally to the migrants themselves, a few of whom would later say they had been lured onto the planes with misleading guarantees of assist.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly took credit score for the flights, claiming they had been a part of the state’s relocation program “to move unlawful immigrants to sanctuary locations.” 

Little greater than a 12 months later, just a few of the migrants nonetheless stay on Martha’s Winery, in keeping with a CBS “60 Minutes” report, which revealed new particulars in regards to the flights and their aftermath.

Daniel Cauro, 30, arrived within the U.S. following a months-long journey from Venezuela along with his sister Deici and two cousins, in keeping with the “60 Minutes” phase. They requested asylum and had been lawfully permitted to enter the U.S. when, Cauro stated, two girls approached the drained and hungry migrants outdoors a useful resource middle and supplied to assist. 

“She was saying, ‘We need to ship you to a state the place there should not so many migrants, and also you’re going to have a variety of assist, since you’re going to have housing and all that,’” Cauro recalled.

He and his sister each instructed “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi that Massachusetts by no means got here up throughout that dialog. At the moment, solely Cauro, his sister, and their cousins stay on Martha’s Winery out of the preliminary group of practically 50 migrants. 

The flights sparked quick outrage on Martha’s Winery and across the U.S., with islanders and Massachusetts leaders mobilizing to supply short-term housing and assets. Citing public data, “60 Minutes” reported that the political stunt finally price Florida greater than $600,000, or about $12,000 per migrant. 

The migrants all had permission to be within the U.S. pending asylum hearings, in keeping with “60 Minutes.”

Rachel Self, a legal protection and immigration lawyer who lives on the close by island of Chappaquiddick, instructed the information program that the stunt additionally “offered [the migrants] a very impartial accessible path to legalize their standing right here,” citing the U visa, which units asides visas for sure “victims of legal exercise.”

In the meantime, “60 Minutes” reported that nobody within the Florida governor’s workplace has been charged with any crimes in reference to the flights, although Javier Salazar, sheriff of Bexar County, Texas, really helpful felony and misdemeanor legal expenses for 2 unnamed recruiters in June. The Bexar County District Lawyer’s Workplace is reportedly reviewing Salazar’s advice. 

Watch the “60 Minutes” clip on the Martha’s Winery migrants under: