During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing before the congressional recess, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) discussed Gov. Ron DeSantis' decision to send Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard in 2022.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Chairman, I would like to call up Amendment No. 4.
00:22Senator Markey, you may proceed with your amendment.
00:25Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:26Mr. Chairman, this amendment adds further authority for the Chairman to seek a subpoena
00:31for two companies, along with the United States Department of Transportation, for documents
00:36and communications relating to a political stunt orchestrated by the state of Florida
00:43in September of 2022.
00:46Florida used interest earned on COVID-19 state and local recovery funds to arrange for a
00:54group of Venezuelan migrants to be flown from Texas through Florida to Matiz Vineyard.
01:01The migrants were told that they were traveling to Boston or Washington, D.C. and would receive
01:07housing and employment assistance.
01:11All of that was one big lie.
01:15Instead, they were brought to Matiz Vineyard, where a Fox News camera was waiting to exploit
01:22their difficult circumstances.
01:25This inhumane stunt may have violated the United States Department of Transportation's
01:31charter broker rule, which prohibits brokers from misrepresenting the destination of a
01:39charter flight and may have been an unlawful use of COVID-19 recovery funds.
01:46In September of 2022, I sent letters to both the Department of Treasury Office of the Inspector
01:53General and the U.S. Department of Transportation urging them to investigate.
02:00Both responded within a few months indicating that they were investigating within their
02:04respective jurisdictions.
02:06If this committee intends to use its compulsory power to investigate incidents that occurred
02:13in previous years, I see no reason why we should also not examine this outrageous abuse.
02:22Of course, I'd rather we scrap both of these unnecessary investigations and return to the
02:27bread and butter issues that are squarely within the committee's jurisdiction, which
02:33includes Elon Musk saying that there is a dire condition in the aviation sector of
02:43the American economy right now.
02:47We should be examining those Islamist statements to determine whether or not our air traffic
02:55control system is, in fact, operating in a way that is safe and efficient at this time.
03:02Elon Musk says it is not, and what impact DOJ's cuts may have on transportation safety
03:11in our country.
03:12That's our principal responsibility here.
03:15But if the chairman intends on going down this path, then this committee should investigate
03:19Florida's cold-hearted political stunt as well.
03:24There are real questions as to its legality, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
03:29Well, I thank my friend from Massachusetts for raising this amendment.
03:33I actually think this amendment raises an important issue.
03:37You know, back in October of 2021, in the first year of the Biden administration, I
03:42introduced legislation that would change where illegal immigrants were sent and not have
03:48them sent in mass numbers to Texas and other places, which unfortunately my Democrat colleagues
03:54seem not to care about the crimes of violence that were committed, about the enormous burden
03:59and instead my legislation proposed we move them to Martha's Vineyard and other places
04:05like Nantucket and the Hamptons and Palo Alto, where rich liberals sip Chardonnay and explain
04:13that those mean red states don't want 12 million people invading them.
04:17Now, at the time I filed that legislation, the elected officials in and around Martha's
04:23Vineyard had quite a lot to say.
04:25In fact, I want to quote from what the county commissioner at Martha's Vineyard said in
04:29response to my legislation.
04:32Keith Chattanooga said in response to this legislation, quote, I would love Martha's
04:39Vineyard to become a haven for new immigrants to this country.
04:43But Senator Cruz has no idea what he's talking about regarding a border crisis.
04:50He continued, immigrants make our country stronger, as evidenced by immigration from
04:55Brazil and other countries to the vineyard.
04:58And he is trying to whip up the racial anxieties for political gain, which is essentially the
05:03entire GOP platform anyway.
05:06Well, we now know that that county commissioner was utterly and completely full of nonsense.
05:12How do we know that?
05:13Because some months later, Governor Ron DeSantis did precisely what I had proposed in my legislation.
05:19He flew to Martha's Vineyard, not 10,000 illegal immigrants, not 1,000 illegal immigrants,
05:27not even 500.
05:28He flew 50, 50 illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard.
05:34And suddenly the self-righteous officials who claim Senator Cruz does not know what
05:39he's talking about on illegal immigration, despite the fact that I represent Texas and
05:44our state has seen firsthand the suffering that Democrat open border policies have caused.
05:52Fifty illegal immigrants arriving on Martha's Vineyard caused those hypocritical officials
05:58to immediately declare a public emergency and to deport and physically remove those
06:04illegal immigrants within 24 hours.
06:07It was truly a stunning display of hypocrisy.
06:12The very same people who said we would welcome immigrants to Martha's Vineyard as a haven
06:17when they actually arrived, put them in handcuffs and remove them within 24 hours.
06:23So I will note, however, Senator Markey's amendment is different from his first one.
06:28Senator Markey's amendment does not remove the authorization for Massport.
06:33It simply adds an additional authorization for Martha's Vineyard.
06:38And so expanding the authority to examine what happened at Martha's Vineyard, I'm certainly
06:43amenable to that.
06:45And so I'm willing to accept Senator Markey's amendment and I'm fine to accept it by a voice vote.
06:50I'd like a roll call.
06:52Okay, the clerk will call the roll.
06:56Mr. Thune.
06:57There's not a quorum.
06:58There's not a quorum.