Who Is Perla, the Woman Allegedly Behind the Migrant Flight Scandal?

The New York Times says they've found the shadowy figure allegedly central to DeSantis' plan to fly migrants to Martha's Vineyard.

We may finally know the identity of the mysterious โ€œPerlaโ€ who, Venezuelan asylum seekers toldย news outlets, lured them in with promises of opportunities, only to trick them into flying to Marthaโ€™s Vineyard.

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For weeks, reports have flooded in from the dozens of Venezuelan asylum seekers who say they were tricked into boarding flights from San Antonio, Texas to Massachusetts as a part of a program spearheaded by Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. And while DeSantis obviously bears a lot of responsibility here, itโ€™s clear he had help.

Enter โ€œPerla,โ€ a shadowy figure who, migrants told the New York Times, offered them a free flight, free food, and a free place to stay at the LaQuinta hotel only for them to find out everything wasnโ€™t as it seemed.

On Sunday, the New York Times identified โ€œPerla,โ€ who only ever gave migrants her first-name, as Perla Huerta, a former combat medic and counterintelligence agent who was discharged from the US Army in August.

According to The New York Times, a person familiar with the sheriffsโ€™ investigation into the flight scandal first identified Huerta as a part of that investigation. The New York Timesย says itย later confirmed her identity with a migrant who says Huerta โ€œhad unsuccessfully sought toโ€ sign her up for the โ€œfree flightโ€ program.

According to the New York Times, her instincts were right. Migrants who took Huerta up on her offer to stay at LaQuinta were handed an โ€œapparently fakeโ€ refugee brochure reportedly riddled with inaccuracies, according to the Times.

For starters the Massachusetts โ€œflagโ€ tucked under the words โ€œMassachusetts Welcomes You,โ€ on the brochure was inaccurate. And so-called refugee benefits offered in the pamphlet didnโ€™t apply to the Venezuelan asylum seekers in San Antonio, according to The New York Times.

Upon their arrival in Marthaโ€™s Vineyard, things continued to fall apart. Accounts from another migrant, identified as Jose, who spoke to the Washington Post, illustrates the absolute chaos among the migrants upon realizing theyโ€™d been tricked.

โ€œPeople wanted to run away,โ€ Jose told the Washington Post. However once they had a moment to look at the map, they realized โ€œwe were surrounded by pure water.โ€

As awful as these accounts are, the New York Times story is likely just the beginning in our emerging understanding of what happened and whoโ€™s responsible for the dozens of migrants left stranded in Massachusetts.

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