- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office said migrants he had flown to Martha's Vineyard are better off.
- The remarks by a DeSantis spokesperson came after a county sheriff in Texas announced he had opened a criminal investigation into the matter.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office said that the dozens of migrants that he had flown to the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard are better off than they would have been in Texas after a Texas county sheriff announced that he had launched a criminal investigation into the matter.
Last week, about 50 migrants were taken on two chartered planes from Texas to Martha's Vineyard in a controversial move orchestrated by DeSantis.
The Republican governor's spokesperson Taryn Fenske said in a statement shared with Insider that immigrants were "more than willing" to leave Bexar County, Texas, "after being abandoned, homeless, and 'left to fend for themselves.'"
"Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected," Fenske said.
Fenske added that unless the Massachusetts National Guard "has abandoned these individuals, they have been provided accommodations, sustenance, clothing and more options to succeed following their unfair enticement into the United States, unlike the 53 immigrants who died in a truck found abandoned in Bexar County this June."
The remarks came in response to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office opening an investigation into the transport of migrants to Martha's Vineyard.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, a Democrat, said that the migrants were "lured" with "promises of a better life."
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office said that the migrants "were ultimately left to fend for themselves in Martha's Vineyard."