Migrants prepare to leave temporary shelter on Cape as woman who allegedly lured them identified
BOURNE - As we learn more about how a planeload of Venezuelan migrants got to Martha's Vineyard, a spokesperson with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Safety and Security said they will be leaving Joint Base Cape Cod before the end of October.
Where they will go next, is unclear. He said there are still about 50 migrants at the shelter there, doing OK, if not still unsettled. "I've been at the base multiple times, and I've met with the clients," said Mirian Albert, and attorney with Lawyers for Civil Rights. "You know, their needs are being met with regards to having medical appointments, having food."
The spokesperson says the public can expect an announcement soon about when the temporary shelter will shut down.
The news comes as The New York Times and CNN have identified a woman who reportedly recruited the migrants to board a plane in Texas last month. Her name is reportedly Perla Huerta. An Army spokesperson told CBS, she has an extensive military background, most recently a healthcare specialist and counterintelligence/human intelligence Senior Sergeant until just this past August.
One of the migrants spoke to WBZ through an interpreter on Martha's Vineyard back in September. "So, there was this woman who said, 'Oh I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.' He's by himself, but the woman just told him, 'I'm going to take you to Massachusetts.'"
Whether Perla was the woman he spoke with, is unclear. Massachusetts civil rights attorneys are now working to confirm that name, and say they plan to add it to a class action lawsuit. They say they need more names. "There were multiple people that approached our clients, not just a woman who was named Perla," said Albert.
