The Democrat activist elected as Bexar County Sheriff, Javier Salazar, thinks he has found a way to help the Venezuelans flown to Martha’s Vineyard stay in the United States. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican running for re-election, arranged for two charter planes to transport about 50 illegal aliens to the swanky resort island in September, courtesy of funds allocated by the Florida Legislature. DeSantis, like Texas Governor Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, is taking up sanctuary communities like Martha’s Vineyard on their claims to be willing to welcome everyone. Turns out that was a big ole lie.

Perhaps Sheriff Salazar is embarrassed that progressive Democrats were exposed as the virtue-signaling hypocrites they are once those two planes landed on their very exclusive island. Suddenly there was no room available on the island, though it is the off-season, to house the small group of Venezuelans who willingly accepted free transportation to the northeast. After first playing to the television cameras that magically appeared to cover the story, the residents hugged and gushed over the strangers before notifying the Governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, a Republican. Baker called out the National Guard and made arrangements for the guardsmen to put the migrants on buses and send them off to Cape Cod. Once there, they were locked up on a military facility. It’s like Maduro was welcoming them himself – military escort to a lockdown and all.

Salazar inserted himself into the fray and stated that he would open a criminal investigation into Governor DeSantis once it was reported that DeSantis financed the migrant flights. Salazar said that the Venezuelans were “lured under false premises” to leave the Migrant Resource Center in Bexar County to fly to Florida before going on to Martha’s Vineyard. The problem with that claim is that it was soon reported that the Venezuelans had been abandoned by Bexar County officials and were living on the streets.

The DeSantis administration said the migrants were informed of their destination and that they were given “multiple” opportunities to decline the trip. Officials said the individuals were offered hotels, meals, showers and haircuts for a couple of days before the trip and that some indeed declined to go.

The administration also said the rumors about the migrants being promised jobs in Martha’s Vineyard were also untrue, and that the individuals were simply presented with information about the benefits and services that are commonly found in sanctuary states.

Nonetheless, Salazar persists. Some of the Venezuelans flown to Massachusetts have ACLU lawyers and are suing. Only in America would illegal aliens have the audacity to sue the very country they essentially broke in to by entering illegally, thanks to the Biden border crisis. Venezuelans know they will not be returned to their own country because Maduro refuses to accept migrants back into his country. They are allowed to stay in this country. Salazar is apparently working with the lawyers in Massachusetts and found a way for the migrants to receive special visas to stay.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar on Thursday certified that 49 migrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month were victims of a crime. The move clears a pathway for those migrants to get a special visa to stay in the country that they otherwise would not have received.

Rachel Self, a Massachusetts attorney working with the migrants, told radio station WGBH that the move by Salazar is a key part of the migrants’ applications for a “U visa,” which is reserved for victims of crime or people who witnessed a crime. In a statement, Salazar said his office had submitted documents with the federal system “to ensure the migrants’ availability as witnesses during the investigation.”

Attorneys like Self are seeking the visas for the migrants on the grounds that they were taken to Martha’s Vineyard under false pretenses.

Everyone knows how to work the system, right? Joe Biden invited the world to come, legally or not, so people from more than 160 countries have done so. Venezuelans are the biggest of recent groups of illegal migrants crossing the southern border.

“Based upon the claims of migrants being transported from Bexar County under false pretenses, we are investigating this case as possible Unlawful Restraint,” Salazar said in a statement.

Salazar said his office has identified witnesses in the case but could not release their names because the investigation is ongoing.

I wrote about the alleged woman who some migrants, allegedly, claim offered them jobs, housing and education if they went to Massachusetts. The woman has been identified

The ACLU of Massachusetts is working with 9 of the Venezuelans and seeking U-Visas for them. Hey, if they were all “lured” onto the planes under false pretenses, how come only 9 of them are filing lawsuits? Maybe because it’s all a bunch of malarkey?

“We are grateful for Sheriff Salazar’s recognition of the gravity of these events. These certifications are an acknowledgment of the wrongs done to our clients and a crucial step in helping them to chart their path forward,” Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “Immigrants are human beings, not political props. We are proud that Massachusetts received these immigrants with compassion, and look forward to continuing to work with our clients as they begin their lives in our community.”

It’s an election year and both DeSantis and Abbott are up for re-election. This is all about dinging red state governors for doing what Joe Biden refuses to do – act on easing the overcrowding of border state communities. Florida has been a partner in past months with Texas efforts to secure the border. Abbott explained to Spanish-language Univision news on Sunday that the program in Texas is a little different than the flights to Martha’s Vineyard were.

“The way that we do it is we receive written authorization from everybody who gets on that bus that they fully authorize the state to transport them to whatever location it is that they’re going to,” Abbott said. “And so, this is done willfully, knowingly. And they are provided food and beverages and other things on the trip. And so, it’s just done completely differently.”

It is as other officials have said, the migrants aren’t specifically coming to Texas or Arizona to stay, they are coming to America. (Did Neil Diamond’s song pop into your head? Sorry for the earworm.) Sure DeSantis stepping in was a play for some election year publicity but so what? He has said many times that illegal aliens are not welcome in Florida.

Let the Democrats continue to be the party that does not support law and order in the United States. It’s not a winning position, especially in Biden’s America where crime is rampant and many cities are no longer safe.