CNN Asks Martha’s Vineyard Official if Community Willing to Help Migrants on Regular Basis: ‘Absolutely’
“Absolutely.” That was the response of a local official in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. when a CNN reporter asked if his community would be willing to continue to help migrants like the group of Venezuelans flown there from Texas by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
The two flights that originated from San Antonio and briefly landed in a small town in the Florida Panhandle before eventually ending up in the posh island community have been controversial, igniting strong opinions on both sides of the aisle and questions about whether the incident violated Florida or federal law.
CNN senior national correspondent Miguel Marquez is in Martha’s Vineyard to cover the story and spoke to James Hagerty, the town administrator Edgartown, where the migrants had received assistance as they awaited buses that would take them to Joint Base Cape Cod, where they had been invited by Gov. Charlie Baker (R-MA) to be sheltered and receive additional help.
JBCC had previously been designated a state emergency shelter and can provide “a safe temporary accommodation appropriate for the needs of families and individuals,” according to a press release from Baker’s office, housing the migrants “in dormitory-style spaces…with separate spaces accommodating both individuals and families,” keeping families together. Baker has activated up to 125 members of the Massachusetts National Guard for the relief effort.
Marquez asked Hagerty about the “coordinated effort to help these people get to the next stage — how tough was it to absorb 50 migrants, without any sort of sense of where they were coming from, what they needed?”
“It was very last minute and it was very tough initially,” Hagerty replied. “They came very quickly, 50 individuals, we were notified — within two or three hours we had this set-up.”
Hagerty praised the “outpouring” and “graciousness” from the local community, saying that they got so many donations of food, clothing, tens of thousands of dollars, and other gifts that “within the first 12 hours” they had to ask people to stop.
“The outpouring was tremendous,” he said. “It showed a lot from the island community…we’re a community that ultimately wants to help people and they had their first and one stop on the island, who knows, maybe they will come back, but again, they saw the graciousness of this community.”
Marquez stated an obvious point — “Immigration is an issue for the country” — and asked Hagerty, “Would people from Massachusetts and Martha’s Vineyard be happy to do this, if there were a coordinated way in which it happened?”
“Absolutely,” said Hagerty, explaining that the local towns had worked in “a coordinated way that became more and more coordinated as we progressed,” and “utilized our state partners.”
However, he added, “ultimately, we can’t provide the level of services that are required” on an ongoing basis, like immigration lawyers, but the migrants would be able to access such services at JBCC.
Watch the video above, via CNN.
