The woman who allegedly lured undocumented immigrants on flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard for a public awareness program run by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been identified by two media outlets.
Perla Huerta, a former Army combat medic and counterintelligence agent living in the Tampa, Florida, area, was named by the New York Times and CNN on Sunday as the woman behind last month’s controversial flights. Investigators with the San Antonio Sheriff’s Office told the Times they believe Huerta was sent from Florida to Texas to fill the planes, which were chartered by DeSantis as part of an effort to raise awareness about the migrant crisis on the southern border.
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DeSantis and his advisers have remained mum on the details of how the flights were coordinated, and immigrants were recruited, aside from acknowledging that the money used to pay for the effort came from a special $12 million appropriation in the state’s last budget for the Department of Transportation. The department was given the funds to create a program “to facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state.”
The Republican governor said at the time that the program was meant to counter the number of immigrants being flown in by the federal government. He shifted his focus to Texas this summer after noting that he had yet to use the funds because the number of immigrants who came to his state was less than expected.
Huerta, who was discharged last month after two decades in the Army, does not appear to have developed an organized program to transport the immigrants. Thus far, only 48 have been flown out of the Lone Star State on Florida’s dime. That number pales in comparison to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s program, which has bused more than 11,000 immigrants from his home state to three Democratic-run cities: Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago.
Once out in San Antonio, Texas, Huerta allegedly found Venezuelan immigrants, some of whom were homeless, and offered them food, clothes, money, and a place to stay if they found others willing to take free flights to Massachusetts.
The former spy, who did not respond to requests for comment from CNN or the Times, reportedly provided each of the immigrants with a red folder containing a map of the United States with an arrow from Texas to Massachusetts, as well as another map of Martha’s Vineyard with dots marking the airport and community center, where they should go for services.
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The folder also included a brochure, which appeared to be fake, titled “Refugee Migrant Benefits,” in English and Spanish. The cover featured the message “Massachusetts Welcomes You” and an out-of-date state flag, while the back included a list of names and numbers for a church, a synagogue, and a nonprofit group in the area. Inside, the brochure promised “up to eight months of cash assistance” for “income-eligible” refugees in the state. The language appears to be a reference to benefits available for refugees who come to the U.S. through the resettlement program, which the Venezuelans recruited for the flights were not part of.
As for the flights themselves, Florida state records show that the Department of Transportation paid Vertol Systems, an airline charter company with ties to prominent Republicans, to get the immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard. The company was paid $615,000 and $950,000 by the state of Florida in two separate transactions in September, just before the flights were chartered.
