DeSantis says migrants sent to Martha's Vineyard 'hit the jackpot'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tosses a hat to the crowd before speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at The Rosen Shingle Creek on February 24, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. CPAC, which began in 1974, is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials.

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Texas migrants he sent to Martha's Vineyard "hit the jackpot."
• He went on to say that liberal sanctuaries aren't as welcoming as they say they are.
• "This is a crisis. It's now getting a little bit more attention," DeSantis said Sunday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday gave himself a pat on the back for sending 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard.

During a speech at the Unite and Win Rally in Wisconsin for Republican candidates, DeSantis said each of the Venezuelan and Columbian migrants who he referred to repeatedly as "illegals and illegal aliens" had "hit the jackpot to be in the wealthiest sanctuary jurisdiction in the world." 

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said on Friday that the migrants — who DeSantis flew out from Texas, not his own state of Florida which has its own issues — would be able to voluntarily move to a Cape Cod military base for access to "shelter and humanitarian support." 

Though locals in Martha's Vineyard moved swiftly to help when the news broke, DeSantis insisted liberal sanctuaries aren't as welcoming as they say they are.

"You're talking about 50 people. Did they get them employed? Did they get them set up? No," DeSantis said, claiming that liberal support of migrants is "just self-congratulatory virtue signaling." 

A homeless shelter on the vineyard said on Friday that it didn't have the bandwidth to take on the dozens of migrants.

"This is an emergency shelter — we're not long-term care," Lisa Belcastro, the coordinator of the Harbor Homes winter shelter said before the migrants were offered shelter at a military base in Cape Cod.

The Republican governor said he plans to continue the stunt of sending migrants elsewhere using "every penny" available in the $12 million "Freedom First" budget allocated to the Florida Department of Transportation's efforts to "transport unauthorized aliens." 

In a similar fashion, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent a group of eight migrants to Sacramento, California, and another group to Vice President Kamala Harris' home in Washington, DC on Saturday. 

"This is a crisis. It's now getting a little bit more attention," DeSantis said Sunday.

DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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