Texas Sheriff Launches Investigation After Migrants Are Flown to Martha's Vineyard: 'They Were Preyed Upon'

Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty

A Texas sheriff says he is opening a criminal investigation into the transport of a group of Venezuelan migrants from the Lone Star State to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, last week.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said last week that he was the one responsible for sending two planes of migrants to Martha's Vineyard in what his office told outlets was a part of a "relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations."

"States like Massachusetts, New York, and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as 'sanctuary states' and support for the Biden Administration's open border policies," DeSantis' office told CNN in a statement.

But critics slammed the move as a political stunt that comes as DeSantis is rumored to be mulling a run for higher office.

And some have questioned the tactics used to transport the migrants.

RELATED: Ron DeSantis Takes Credit for Sending Planes of Migrants to Martha's Vineyard

NPR reported that some migrants said they had been approached outside a shelter and lured into boarding the plane with promises of expedited work papers. The outlet further reported that the migrants were told they were traveling to Boston.

In a press conference held Monday, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said he has opened a criminal investigation in Texas into the transport of the migrants, citing what he claimed was a plot to "lure" migrants to Martha's Vineyard "under false pretenses."

"Our understanding is that a Venezuelan migrant was paid what we could call a bird-dog fee to recruit approximately 50 migrants from the area around a migrant resource center," Salazar, a Democrat, said.

RELATED: Are DeSantis and Abbott Breaking Human Trafficking Laws by Sending Migrants to Blue States?

The sheriff continued: "As we understand it, 48 migrants were, I will use the word 'lured' under false pretenses into staying at a hotel for a couple of days. They were shuttled to an airplane where they were flown to Florida and then eventually flown to Martha's Vineyard. Again, under false pretenses."

According to Salazar, the migrants were "promised work," among other things.

"They were taken to Martha's Vineyard, from what we can gather, for little more than a photo op, a video op — and then they were unceremoniously stranded in Martha's Vineyard," Salazar said.

Salazar said the 48 migrants were "here legally in our country. They have every right to be where they are. And I believe they were preyed upon [by] somebody from out of state [and] lured with promises of a better life."

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Conservative governors in Texas and Arizona have also sent migrants from their states to more liberal-leaning areas such as Washington, D.C. in recent months.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claimed last week after two buses of migrants arrived at the U.S. Naval Observatory — Vice President Kamala Harris' residence in Washington, D.C. CNN reports that the volunteers who staff the observatory were surprised at their arrival, and had not been previously notified.

That move came after Abbott, who is running for reelection this year, announced in April that he was busing migrants from the Lone Star State to the Big Apple.

RELATED: N.Y.C. Mayor Adams Condemns Texas Gov. Abbott for Busing Migrants to His City: 'Disgusting'

Speaking about the move, Abbott blamed Biden for what he called a "refusal to acknowledge the crisis caused by his open border policies."

In May, Arizona's Republican Gov. Doug Ducey made a similar move, sending migrants from his state's southern border to Washington, D.C., as well.