Facebook / Bexar County Sheriff's Office
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar first launched an investigation into the Martha's Vineyard migrant flights on Sept.19.
In a statement, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said his office has filed multiple counts of unlawful restraint, "both misdemeanor and felony," related to the flights. However, he declined to identify the suspects in the case. The charges follow more than eight months of investigation by Salazar's office into the flights, which were arranged by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.
"The charge filed is Unlawful Restraint, and several accounts were filed, both misdemeanor and felony," Salazar's statement said. "At this time, the case is being reviewed by the DA’s office. Once an update is available, it will be provided to the public.”
A lawsuit filed by some of the migrants dumped in Martha's Vineyard maintains that Perla Huerta, a former U.S. Army counterintelligence agent, lured the asylum seekers, most of whom were Venezuelan, onto the chartered planes. Huerta made false promises to the migrants of money, housing, employment and social services, according to the suit's claims.
DeSantis, a GOP presidential contender, has publicly taken credit for chartering the planes. The headline-grabbing incident followed similar moves by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, another Republican immigration hardliner, who's sent busloads of migrants from South Texas to Democrat-controlled cities such as New York and Chicago.
The Florida Legislature created $12 million in funding for its program to remove "unauthorized aliens" from the state. DeSantis has so far dumped $1.5 million into chartering flights, the Texas Tribune reports, citing state records.
The U.S. Treasury Department is investigating whether DeSantis improperly used federal COVID-19 relief funds to fund those flights.
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