Massachusetts Gov. Activates National Guard, Sends Martha’s Vineyard Illegal Immigrants To Military Base

The Massachusetts governor’s office announced Friday that dozens of illegal immigrants who were transported to Martha’s Vineyard will be taken to a military base in Cape Cod, while some members of the National Guard will be activated.

Venezuelan migrants stand outside St. Andrew’s Church in Edgartown, Massachusetts, U.S. September 14, 2022

As Jack Phillips reports via The Epoch Times, the move comes as video footage and photos show the illegal aliens – of mostly Venezuelan descent – being transported on several buses from the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Martha’s Vineyard, a Massachusetts island that is popular among the rich and powerful Democrats.

It took less than 24 hours for the libs to kick these illegal immigrants out of Martha’s Vineyard, but Biden won’t lift a finger to deport the thousands of illegals pouring through the southern border daily out of the country. https://t.co/o19mTKbc6S

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 16, 2022

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office announced Friday that it is going to mobilize 125 members of the National Guard and said that families and individuals will be housed at the Joint Base Cape Cod.

“We are grateful to the providers, volunteers, and local officials that stepped up on Martha’s Vineyard over the past few days to provide immediate services to these individuals,” Baker said in a statement.

“Our administration has been working across state government to develop a plan to ensure these individuals will have access to the services they need going forward, and Joint Base Cape Cod is well equipped to serve these needs.”

The move by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, sparked outrage among left-wing commentators and pundits on social media.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, claimed the Department of Justice should investigate DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on human trafficking charges busing illegal immigrants.

Hillary Clinton today agreed with MSNBC host Joe Scarborough that  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sending 50 undocumented migrants to Martha’s Vineyard is “literally human trafficking.”

Twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says giving illegal aliens bus and plane tickets to New York City and Martha’s Vineyard is “literally human trafficking.” Ignores the fact Biden has been flying them around the country in the dark of night for the past 2 years. pic.twitter.com/VYpeYW1jUN

— Ishikawa Katsumi (@TwistedEagle49) September 16, 2022

On the program, Scarborough repeated the common claim that this transportation qualifies as “human trafficking.” In fairness to Scarborough and Clinton, some law professors have echoed this view which is wholly at odds with not just the governing statutory provisions but controlling case law.

Clinton, who is a lawyer, chimed in with the same dubious analysis:

“I think, Joe, you have laid out the craziness of the time in which we’re living where some politicians would rather not only have an issue but exacerbate it to the extent of literally human trafficking, as you said.”

So, as Jonathan Turley writes, MSNBC and these legal experts are telling the public that the consensual transport of migrants within the country constitutes human trafficking. While Turley notes there are good-faith reasons to oppose the transportation to migrants to the island, he points out in detail here that, as a legal matter, this is legally nonsense.

But DeSantis argued Thursday that the Biden administration has failed in its duty to secure the border, while Abbott said that New York City, Chicago, and Washington D.C. are suitable locations for illegal immigrants due to their “sanctuary city” status. After the Martha’s Vineyard deployment, few Democrats made mention of the crisis that’s emerged along the U.S.–Mexico border or the White House’s immigration policies.

‘America Knows These Problems’

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) told Fox Business that he believes DeSantis’ decision to send two flights of illegal aliens to Martha’s Vineyard will help highlight problems with the southern border.

“I will tell you, House Republicans have highlighted all the problems, and I think America knows these problems,” Gonzales, who represents Texas’s 23rd Congressional District, told the outlet Friday. “I say now it’s time for House Republicans to show action. We’re going to win back the majority here in November.”

The White House, meanwhile, criticized DeSantis’s move to bus illegal aliens to Martha’s Vineyard and Abbott’s recent decision to send buses of illegal immigrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence in Washington.

“The children … deserve better than being left on the streets of D.C. or being left in Martha’s Vineyard,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

A report last month issued by the Federation for American Immigration Reform found that illegal immigration has skyrocketed under the Biden administration, with nearly 5 million people illegally entering the United States in the past year and a half. The group blamed the administration’s policies as well as its decision to reverse several Trump-era immigration rules.

“Roughly the equivalent of the entire population of Ireland has illegally entered the United States in the 18 months President Biden has been in office, with many being released into American communities,” the group wrote in August, attacking the White House for having no “willingness to enforce our laws.”

Buses have arrived in Edgartown to transport migrants from St. Andrew’s Parish House.

There is one big bus and two shorter buses to transport folks off the island. People with bags are taking selfies and hugging volunteers goodbye pic.twitter.com/wuauiZM4Y3

— Samantha J. Gross (@samanthajgross) September 16, 2022

Sheriffs from across the U.S. slammed the Democratic leaders of several sanctuary cities for complaining about receiving illegal migrants from the southern border, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“It’s an example of just the height of hypocrisy much like I’m seeing in my local community. We have people of that mind that think basically ‘anywhere but my backyard,’” Culpeper County, Virginia, Sheriff Scott H. Jenkins told the DCNF Friday.

“It’s happening in every community,” Jenkins explained.

“So, it’s time for America to wake up and realize it’s not a southwest border issue or a Texas, Arizona issue, it’s every county is a border county.”