Migrants say Florida contractors pushed to get them to board planes to California
EL PASO, Texas — María had traveled over 2,800 miles from Venezuela to reach the United States in early May. Once crossing the border, however, she'd only made it four blocks, to a shelter at Sacred Heart Church, in downtown El Paso.
Like many asylum seekers released on parole by Customs and Border Protection, she had no money to pay for a plane or bus ticket, she said. She slept in the church shelter, and then in the alley outside, for three weeks, until a woman approached and said she would fly María on a private jet to California.
"She said I should go, that there were people there to receive us who would give us lodging, that they would help us… get our [immigration] papers in order," said María, who asked to be identified only by her first name, out of fear of potential repercussions from the woman who approached her.
What María didn't know was that the woman was a contractor hired by the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The contractor, along with another woman and two to board a charter flight to Sacramento. María and other migrants said the contractors did not identify themselves beyond saying they were there to "help the migrants."
