Migrants from Venezuela after they were lured onto a plane and flown to Martha's Vineyard. (Photo: Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Ron Dicker
Mon, October 3, 2022 at 7:27 AM·1 min read
A woman who lured Venezuelan migrants onto chartered planes to Martha’s Vineyard in Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stunt to protest border policy is an Army veteran named Perla Huerta, The New York Times and CNN reported.
A person briefed on a Texas sheriff’s criminal investigation of the flights identified Huerta, a former combat medic and counterintelligence officer, of Tampa, Florida, according to the Times. A migrant who helped Huerta lure others onto flights from Texas confirmed it was her in a photo, according to the newspaper. CNN said a friend identified Huerta in a photo taken by a migrant.
A man who assisted Huerta said she approached him to recruit migrants for the unannounced airlift, which DeSantis organized and funded with state money. She told him she wanted to aid others in the journey north, but did not mention Florida’s involvement, the helper said.
“I was also lied to,” the man told the Times. “If I had known, I would not have gotten involved.”
A politically connected charter airline, Vertol Systems, received payments of $615,000 and $950,000 in September, according to Florida records cited by the Times.
The Washington Post reported last month that the cowboy-hat-wearing mystery woman Perla approached the huddled asylum seekers on the streets of San Antonio and promised them food, shelter and jobs.
The White House and other Democrats have condemned the actions of DeSantis and Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who has sent busloads of migrants to Democratic cities, for using undocumented people as “political pawns.”
DeSantis is facing multiple lawsuits alleging he illegally transported the migrants under false pretenses.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Former Army intelligence agent helped DeSantis recruit migrants for Martha’s Vineyard migrant flight: report
Josh Marcus
Sun, October 2, 2022
A former US Army combat medic and counterintelligence agent named Perla Huerta reportedly recruited migrants for Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s controversial flights in September carrying Venezuelan asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard.
Police officials, a lawyer, and migrants who encountered her pointed to Ms Huerta as the recruiter for the flights, The New York Times reports.
Ms Huerta served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and was discharged last month after two decades of service, the Times reports, citing her military records.
It is unclear if Ms Huerta worked for the state of Florida or Texas.
Texas governor Greg Abbott has said he was not involved in the migrant flights out of the Lone Star State.
The Independent was unable to locate Ms Huerta for comment.
The potential identification helps clear up one of the lingering mysteries about the flight: who recruited the nearly 50, mostly Venezuelan migrants, to board the flights.
Migrants say they were promised work papers, jobs and even paid to board the flight and encouraged others to join them.
A 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant named Emmanuel told San Antonio Report that a woman named Perla gave him $200 from “an anonymous benefactor” to recruit fellow asylum-seekers outside a city-run migrant centre in San Antonio, Texas, where the flights originated.
“Perla informed me that in those sanctuary states, the state has the benefits to help migrants,” Emmanuel said. “I’ve just been the mediator because I like to help people.”“A lot of people really come without plans, they want to come and just work and they have a hand that’ll provide them shelter,” he added. “I just saw it in that way, like a sweet way, doing it for good.”
They were even given a brochure making false claims about the “Masachusetts Refugee Benefits” they’d receive upon arrival in the East Coast.
“These brochures are not ours and not sure who prints or distributes them, at this point,” office chief of staff Falah Hashem at the state’s refugee agency told The Independent.
The migrants aboard the Martha’s Vineyard flights have sued Governor DeSantis, calling the trips a “fraudulent and discriminatory scheme.”
Woman Who Helped Con Martha’s Vineyard Migrants Was Ex-Military: Reports
Nikki McCann Ramirez
ROLLING STONE
Mon, October 3, 2022
Ron-DeSantis - Credit: (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The mysterious woman known as “Perla” who allegedly deceived migrants into boarding Governor Ron DeSantis’s stunt flights to Martha’s Vineyard has been identified as former U.S. Army combat medic and counterintelligence officer Perla Huerta, CNN and The The New York Times report.
Many of the 50 migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard as part of a potentially illegal political stunt by DeSantis were allegedly approached outside of the San Antonio migrant resource center by a woman named “Perla,” who promised the migrants transportation to cities like New York and Boston, as well as resources like housing, food, and cash assistance if they signed on to the transport. Some of the migrants who agreed were held in a motel for days until Perla and her associates had secured enough volunteers for the flight.
According to the Times, Perla was photographed by various migrants she approached outside the shelter, where she had also enlisted other migrants to aid her in gathering volunteers for the flights. Those photos were passed along to attorneys representing the migrants who would eventually be abandoned by flight organizers on Martha’s Vineyard, who matched them to social media images of Perla Huerta, a Tampa, Florida, resident.
An Army spokesperson confirmed to CNN that Huerta spent more than two decades as “a Combat Medic Specialist (68W) and Counterintelligence Agent (35L) in the regular Army from April 2002 to August 2022,” and had achieved the rank of master sergeant. It is still unclear how Huerta is connected to or being compensated by the Florida government, who has claimed responsibility for the flights.
One migrant assisting Huerta, who spoke to the Times on conditions of anonymity said Huerta never revealed her relationship to the Florida government, claiming he was also deceived by Huerta into harming the people he intended to help. “If I had known, I would not have gotten involved,” he said.
A group of the migrants who fell victim to the scheme have filed a class-action lawsuit against DeSantis and various members of the Florida government, as well as the woman previously known as “Defendant Doe 1,” now identified as Perla Huerta.
Mon, October 3, 2022
Ron-DeSantis - Credit: (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The mysterious woman known as “Perla” who allegedly deceived migrants into boarding Governor Ron DeSantis’s stunt flights to Martha’s Vineyard has been identified as former U.S. Army combat medic and counterintelligence officer Perla Huerta, CNN and The The New York Times report.
Many of the 50 migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard as part of a potentially illegal political stunt by DeSantis were allegedly approached outside of the San Antonio migrant resource center by a woman named “Perla,” who promised the migrants transportation to cities like New York and Boston, as well as resources like housing, food, and cash assistance if they signed on to the transport. Some of the migrants who agreed were held in a motel for days until Perla and her associates had secured enough volunteers for the flight.
According to the Times, Perla was photographed by various migrants she approached outside the shelter, where she had also enlisted other migrants to aid her in gathering volunteers for the flights. Those photos were passed along to attorneys representing the migrants who would eventually be abandoned by flight organizers on Martha’s Vineyard, who matched them to social media images of Perla Huerta, a Tampa, Florida, resident.
An Army spokesperson confirmed to CNN that Huerta spent more than two decades as “a Combat Medic Specialist (68W) and Counterintelligence Agent (35L) in the regular Army from April 2002 to August 2022,” and had achieved the rank of master sergeant. It is still unclear how Huerta is connected to or being compensated by the Florida government, who has claimed responsibility for the flights.
One migrant assisting Huerta, who spoke to the Times on conditions of anonymity said Huerta never revealed her relationship to the Florida government, claiming he was also deceived by Huerta into harming the people he intended to help. “If I had known, I would not have gotten involved,” he said.
A group of the migrants who fell victim to the scheme have filed a class-action lawsuit against DeSantis and various members of the Florida government, as well as the woman previously known as “Defendant Doe 1,” now identified as Perla Huerta.
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