South Florida Venezuelans fume over Martha's Vineyard controversy [View all]

[In It to Win It]

Sun Sentinel

https://archive.ph/03Y2x

Emotions ranging from outrage to panic and fear were felt by immigrants across South Florida in response to news that Gov. Ron DeSantis had taken responsibility for flying 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a resort island near Cape Cod known as a playground for the rich.

“They felt they were finally going to be able to live the American Dream,” said Juan Correa Villalonga, a 34-year-old Sunrise resident who fled Venezuela with his family at age 11. “Little did they know they were being sent to an island of millionaires. They can’t stay there. It was all a political stunt.”

Villalonga knows what it’s like to hope for a new life then be sent back to the country you thought you’d left behind. He was deported in 2009, then later allowed to return to the United States.

“There’s a lot of fear out there,” he said. “When people see this, there’s a great sense of panic in the immigrant communities. But people are outraged. We feel lied to. We’ve sat across the table from DeSantis and he has told us he would support immigrant communities. We feel used and manipulated.”

Raiza Perrault, a Hollywood resident born in Venezuela, had a different take.

She said of DeSantis: “He chartered two planes to take them to Martha’s Vineyard of all places. Imagine arriving here and then being put on a plane, not being told where they’re going. Who in their right mind would do something like that? It shows no compassion to take people like that and ship them out.”

Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, a Colombian-American political strategist from Weston, had sharp words for the governor, saying he used people who are escaping dictatorships as pawns for his political future.

“It shows why he is so dangerous,” she said. “Because he treats human beings as if they were not human. There is no time to cry. It’s not about crying. It’s about doing something about this. This should embolden our Latino communities to get involved and vote for people who are going to treat them with respect.”