Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Ron DeSantis were told they were going to Boston.

Earlier this week, a plane carrying 50 migrants from various countries south of the US border arrived in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachussets. These migrants were bussed from the border on order of Texas governor Greg Abbott, while the plane was commissioned by Florida governor Ron DeSantis. According to an official statement sent by DeSantis’s office, this move was a deliberate shot at the US government for supposedly “incentivizing” illegal immigration.

According to several of the migrants who spoke with NPR, they were originally informed that they were being sent to Boston, where they would receive expedited work visas. The migrants were informed of this by a woman known only as “Perla” who approached them at a shelter in San Antonio.

“She offered us help. Help that never arrived,” Andres Duarte, a 30-year-old Venezuelan, told NPR. “Now we are here. We got on the plane with a vision of the future, of making it.” When asked why he boarded the plane despite the lack of information, Duarte responded, “Look, when you have no money and someone offers help, well, it means a lot.”

The migrants are currently being housed at a church shelter, where local nonprofit organizations have done their best to provide them with essentials like food, clothing, and toiletries. The actions of DeSantis and Abbott have drawn severe criticism from local politicians.

“We have the governor of Florida … hatching a secret plot to send immigrant families like cattle on an airplane,” said Massachussets Representative Dylan Fernandes, who represents Martha’s Vineyard. “Ship them women and children to a place they weren’t told where they were going and never alerted local officials and people on the ground here that they were coming. It is an incredibly inhumane and depraved thing to do.”