Several migrants who had stayed at the San Antonio migrant resource center say they were lured into a political stunt with promises of jobs, English classes and long-term shelter, only to end up confused and embarrassed on a resort island in Massachusetts.
When the group of 42 adult migrants and five children arrived Wednesday on Martha’s Vineyard, Elid Aguilar, a 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant, felt so frustrated at the situation he was in that he ran behind a church nearby and sat down to cry.
“We didn’t know what to do. They used us. They lied to us,” Aguilar said over the phone Saturday from Joint Base Cape Cod, where many in the group of migrants were moved after landing in Martha’s Vineyard. “We didn’t think these people would be so cruel, so cold-blooded to do this to us.”
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took credit on Wednesday for sending the two flights of migrants to the popular and affluent summer vacation destination in Massachusetts, a political stunt aimed at making a statement about sanctuary cities.
The City of San Antonio said in a statement Saturday that staff at the migrant resource center has begun advising migrants not to accept rides or any other assistance from strangers outside the center — and to report any concerns to the staff. Signs have been posted at the center providing the National Human Trafficking hotline.
Wilmer Villazana, a 34-year-old Venezuelan migrant, said he decided to go with a woman calling herself Perla last week after she said she would help the migrants get to unspecified “sanctuary states.”
At first, he felt hopeful to hear promises of what awaited the migrants at his next destination, but as he waited for four nights and five days at a San Antonio-area La Quinta hotel, something started to feel off.
“[I feel] lied to, deceived,” Villazana said. “They used us for a political purpose.”
Who is Perla?
Since learning the woman’s description, the League of United Latin American Citizens announced it is offering a $5,000 reward for information about the woman known as Perla.
LULAC President Domingo Garcia traveled to Martha’s Vineyard on Friday and spoke with a handful of migrants about their experiences traveling to Massachusetts. Their stories of Perla and the false promises she made were almost identical, he told the Texas Tribune.
Outside the migrant resource center on San Pedro Avenue near a McDonald’s restaurant, Perla and another woman promised migrants long-term refugio, or shelter, opportunities for jobs, additional resources, attorneys, classes to learn English and even a school for Villazana’s 7-year-old niece, Aguilar and Villazana said.
Villazana had traveled to the United States with his cousin, cousin’s wife and their daughter, and Aguilar said he was accompanied by four of his cousins. The families said they did not receive all of that promised help when they arrived at Martha’s Vineyard, but instead were met with surprised but kind people.
Now, Aguilar and Villazana and their families plan on settling down in Massachusetts and are primarily focused on updating their location with immigration officials and attorneys — a necessary step needed to remain in good standing in their asylum process.
“I would like to work here,” Aguilar said. “First, fix our immigration paperwork, but we came to work and to contribute, to help, to put in effort. If they tell me to go back to the island, I would go because the people were so kind and good.”
Villazana said he texted Perla via WhatsApp on Thursday, asking why the group of migrants was sent to Martha’s Vineyard and why they never received the help she promised. She responded, saying, “I’m sorry for the confusion. I saw they sent y’all doctors and attorneys.”
The City of San Antonio’s policy of releasing migrants from its resource center after three days has prompted some migrants, including families with children, to sleep on the streets, the San Antonio Report reported earlier this month.
Villazana said he and his family timed out of the resource center early in the week before the flight, and slept outside through Sept. 8, when he and his group agreed to go with the people who promised them permanent shelter.
Waiting at the hotel
Aguilar said he was in a similar predicament.
His family had timed out of the center Sept. 11 after three nights and were waiting on a family member to send them money to get to Washington state, where they heard from an immigration official that there was a shelter for migrants.
Around 3 p.m. that day, Aguilar said Perla arrived outside the San Antonio center with another woman and a male Venezuelan migrant, whose name Aguilar said he didn’t know.
Some of the migrants voluntarily began to share with the women where they were headed, he said, but explained that they were stuck because they didn’t have money. Aguilar said the women began to offer to take migrants to either Washington state, Oregon or other states. Aguilar said he didn’t hear the term “sanctuary states” as part of that conversation.
“We were desperate because it was already night and we were on the streets,” Aguilar said. When they asked when they would get to wherever they were going, they were told any day between Monday and Wednesday.
According to migrants, Perla said she was taking them to a “residence,” which they understood would be her home. They instead were taken to a hotel.
On Sept. 8, Villazana said his family members were taken to a La Quinta hotel near Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland with 12 other migrants. The next day, Villazana and others were also taken to the same hotel. Aguilar said he arrived Sunday with his cousins.
Rita Orpeza, a maintenance employee at the La Quinta hotel, told the San Antonio Report she first heard of the migrants staying there from coworkers.
“They didn’t make a peep when they stayed here … pretty much just stayed in their rooms,” Orpeza said.
Villazana said he spent four nights and five days at the La Quinta.
Filling the flights
The migrants did not know exactly where they were going after the hotel, they were only told about the things they were promised when they arrived at their eventual destination.
“On Tuesday, the woman arrived [at the hotel] and asked us to sign a paper because the flight was leaving tomorrow,” Aguilar said. “We were feeling doubtful because we know that when you’re boarding a flight, they have to hand you a ticket.”
Aguilar said that the paper the migrants signed was permission to board the plane.
On Wednesday afternoon, Villazana and Aguilar said the group departed the hotel in buses and were taken to two private planes by Perla, two women and two men.
Aguilar said he heard one of the men from Perla’s group say they had the goal of flying out 60 migrants from Kelly Field, but didn’t meet their goal.
“They didn’t want to depart until they met their goal,” Aguilar said.
Villazana and Aguilar said 42 migrants and five children boarded the two planes and were finally told they were going to Massachusetts when they boarded, and were again reminded they would have jobs. Aguilar said Perla did not get on the plane.
“The whole time, the movements were secretive,” Villazana said. “Everything, they did it in their own way.”
About 10 minutes before they landed, Aguilar said a woman handed them a pamphlet with three blue dots on the island, showing them where they could find the migrant refugios.
Aguilar said the woman told the migrants, “at whichever of those three refugios, you can go and they’ll help you, give you jobs. We already contacted them and they’re going to receive you.”
Arrival in Martha’s Vineyard
The migrants waited for buses to arrive in Martha’s Vineyard, and about 15 people boarded each bus.
“We saw a [news] camera, and when we saw it, we knew something strange was going on,” Aguilar said. “When the bus driver took us to a certain address, he pointed to where we needed to walk.”
Groups of migrants began to arrive at the address and began asking for directions on the street. The people on the street were confused, the migrants said, as they began to realize more and more groups of people were walking up behind the first group.
“We were desperate. We didn’t know what to do,” Aguilar said. “Do we walk to the left? To the right?”
Aguilar said migrants realized they had been lied to and described a feeling of embarrassment at being met by seemingly wealthy people. The locals’ kindness made them feel better, he said, but the migrants still kept apologizing for showing up.
So far, the migrants swept up in the stunt have been working with attorneys who are getting their testimony on what happened, and helping them update immigration documents.
They’re just as hopeful for the future as they were when they arrived in San Antonio.
“Maybe God wanted it this way,” Aguilar said.
Photojournalist Nick Wagner and Reporter Lindsey Carnett contributed to this story.
