The Massachusetts state representative for the area including the leftist haven Martha’s Vineyard responded Wednesday to the arrival of 50 Venezuelan illegal immigrants by boasting of the island’s reception for the immigrants, prompting Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz to fire back with an acerbic remark.
Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis arranged this week for the illegal immigrants to be transported to the Massachusetts island known for hosting former President Barack Obama’s palatial home and being a playground for the Kennedy family.
After the move by DeSantis, State Rep. Dylan Fernandes tweeted, “Our island jumped into action putting together 50 beds, giving everyone a good meal, providing a play area for the children, making sure people have the healthcare and support they need. We are a community that comes together to support immigrants.”
Our island jumped into action putting together 50 beds, giving everyone a good meal, providing a play area for the children, making sure people have the healthcare and support they need. We are a community that comes together to support immigrants. pic.twitter.com/kG5bglhbLe
— Dylan Fernandes (@RepDylan) September 15, 2022
Cruz snapped back acidly, “Now try 4.2 million.”
Now try 4.2 million. https://t.co/fvRmV0LGt2
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 15, 2022
Lisa Belcastro, the coordinator for Martha’s Vineyard homeless shelter Harbor Homes, exhibited a far different reaction to the arrival of the immigrants than Fernandes did. Asked on Thursday what the “most difficult challenges” were from the island facing the arrival of the 50 illegal immigrants, she responded: “The difficult challenges are, we have, at some point in time they have to move from here to somewhere else.”
“We cannot, we don’t have the services to take care of 50 immigrants,” she continued. “And we certainly don’t have housing. We’re in a housing crisis as we are on this island. And we don’t, we can’t house everyone here that lives here and work here. We don’t have housing for 50 more people.”
Wow! This Martha’s Vineyard Democrat doesn’t seem very welcoming or progressive.
“We don’t have housing for 50 immigrants.”
Uh, don’t the Obamas have a 10 bedroom mansion there? That will fit half of them.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) September 15, 2022
Appearing on Fox News in July, Cruz referenced the 4.2 million number he cited this week. He pointed out, “We’ve now had in a year and a half under Joe Biden, 4.2 million people cross illegally into this country; it’s the highest rate of immigration into this country in 62 years, and the explosion of drug trafficking — last year we had a 100,000 people die of overdoses just in my home state of Texas; we had over 1,600 people overdose on fentanyl.”
“And I gotta say that Joe Biden body bags, they keep piling up and up and up,” Cruz charged. “And what is causing it is this president, this vice-president, this attorney general, refuse to enforce the law. When they catch a trafficker, they let him go. They follow catch and release. And they engage in a state of unbelievable denial.”