Martha’s Vineyard became the latest blue state location targeted by a Republican governor who transported undocumented migrants without any planning or warning to lawmakers.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took credit for flying two planes with migrants to the Massachusetts island Wednesday as social service organizations worked to get the families shelter and food. DeSantis contended that the state claims it’s a sanctuary for undocumented migrants, while the White House and local elected officials slammed him for using the families in a political stunt.

State Sen. Julian Cyr, who represents Martha’s Vineyard, spoke with ABC News’ “Start Here” to weigh in on the situation.

START HERE: Senator Cyr, can you just describe when you found out that these migrants had arrived on the island? What happened?

SEN. CYR: I received a call from the sheriff here on Martha’s Vineyard, who just an hour earlier, just after a little bit after three in the afternoon, [said] two chartered jets landed at Martha’s Vineyard Airport. There was some level of coordination. Actually, a camera crew was on site to film these migrant families who were disembarking from the plane. And these 43 [to] 44 migrants ended up at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services unannounced, essentially. There was no notification to officials on Martha’s Vineyard or relief to anyone in Massachusetts that these planes were arriving. We’ve had a tight-knit community here at Martha’s Vineyard. This is a small island of about 20,000 people. It’s rural. It’s actually a lot of working-class folks who actually live out here year-round.

The whole island scrambled with emergency management for first responders, the sheriff’s office, community services, Red Cross, [the] Salvation Army and others. [They] basically stood up a shelter to provide food and a good meal and a safe place for these folks to stay. [It was] sort of the equivalent of what we would do in a hurricane or in a nor’easter. [They] did that in a matter of hours and have been taking care of these folks since. But this was something that was completely unexpected. And we’ve since learned that this appears to be a cruel ruse.

These migrant families were manipulated into boarding these planes [with] commitments, promises were made to them, assurances of work opportunities and others that were not there. And this really sadly appears to be a stunt.

START HERE: Yeah, how [did] you end up on this island if you’re one of these migrants?

CYR: So our understanding that’s been some really good reporting on this from…WCAI, [who] spent a bunch of time speaking to migrants last night, and we’ve had conversations with them today. These mostly were Venezuelans who had crossed the border in Texas in recent months. They were in San Antonio, in a shelter in San Antonio. A woman that the migrants referred to as Perla approached them outside of the shelter and essentially recruited them with promises of traveling to this destination.

But they did not necessarily know where they’re going. Actually, one of the migrants when we were speaking with them referred to a feeling of essentially being kidnapped. And this clearly appears, especially after seeing what Gov. Ron DeSantis has put out. This appears to be a political move, capitalizing on people in difficult circumstances for sort of a gotcha moment or a political stunt.

START HERE: Yet what was your reaction to finding out that this does appear to be a deliberate plan by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said, you guys are talking about straining the system to house all these people, to feed all these people. These are the same complaints we’ve gotten. Border states like you guys are getting a small taste of what we’re dealing with. You guys have a couple dozen now. We’re dealing with thousands and thousands across the southern border.

CYR: Unfortunately, we’ve seen these fundamentally racist and xenophobic tactics before.

If this were about providing relief to border communities overwhelmed or about providing safe harbor and care to these migrants, the way that you do that is [by] reaching out in partnership to other states and localities. There was none of that outreach.

We’ve actually had experience and have really stepped up in prior years to support migrants in need. Under Gov. Deval Patrick, several years ago, Massachusetts welcomed hundreds of unaccompanied minors who were at the border in coordination with the then-Obama administration. So we’ve done this sort of work. But unfortunately, we’ve just, we’ve seen these fundamentally racist tactics before. And it actually even harkens back to the Civil Rights era.

In the 1960s, segregationists tricked 96 Southern Black families into relocating to Hyannis. Hyannis, of course, [was] close to the then-President John F. Kennedy’s home, and [it] was really an attempt by the segregationists to show Northern white liberals as hypocrites. What actually happened to those 96 families [is that] the community responded and rallied around them here on Cape Cod. They helped them find homes [and] get settled. Those families stayed here and are part of our Cape community, decades later, but it’s just really a cruel, unfortunate, discouraging and disgusting thing that has happened here in recent days.

START HERE: So what is the plan like? Are you guys planning to keep them in Martha’s Vineyard or are you taking them on? Because we’ve seen this in other cities now, like in Chicago, we just saw a lot of migrants bused up there. And immediately the governor and the mayor there actually dispersed these people, [and] bused them out of Chicago into some suburbs, which raises questions about hypocrisy. If it’s bad to shuttle migrants around, then why are you shuttling migrants around there? I mean, are they staying in Martha’s Vineyard?

CYR: So our capacity here on the island is limited. The current shelter where they’re staying is a church parish that has one bathroom [and] limited showers. This is not going to be sort of a suitable place for people to reside for too, too long.

As I said, we’ve had experience with this in the past. I expect us to see sort of dusting off that playbook and relying on, you know, the strategies and resources we used to help unaccompanied minors.

It’s probably unlikely that the current shelter is going to be able to continue for too many days more, just given the cramped quarters and the limited facilities there.

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(WEST PALM BEACH, FL) — Seventh-grade Spanish class was the first time Alex Del Dago sat down with the intention of learning his father’s native language. Although simplistic, this class served as the gateway for meaningful communication with his grandma, whom he calls abuela, who only speaks Spanish.

His abuela tells him that she’s glad he learned the language and that his ability to speak Spanish has improved their relationship.  

“I knew that if I didn’t put in the work or put in the practice to learn it, I may never be, never be able to actually have like a real substantial conversation with her,” Del Dago said.

According to the Pew Research Center, “Hispanic identity fades across generations,” with less and less people with Hispanic heritage identifying as being Hispanic. Similarly, the more generations a family has been in the United States, the less likely they are to teach their children Spanish. But some Gen-Z Latino-Americans are reclaiming their culture via language, learning it later on in life, such as Del Dago.  

From 7th grade through college, Del Dago studied Spanish through courses at school. His dad was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States when he was 4 years old, along with his younger brother and parents. The family left Cuba during the Freedom Flights of the late 60s and early 70s. 

Del Dago’s dad had a difficult time learning English without a program for non-native speakers and he didn’t feel like his son fit in with the other students in class, which influenced his decision to speak to Del Dago exclusively in English.

“At the time [my parents] decided it would be better just to raise me speaking English because they thought it would be easier for me to fit in and adjust and make friends quickly,” Del Dago said.

This isn’t unusual either. With each generation, the number of Hispanic heritage parents who speak to their children in Spanish decreases. Seventy-one percent of U.S.- born second-generation Latino parents speak to their children in Spanish and fewer than half of all third- or higher-generation Latino parents do, according to the Pew Research Center.

“One of the main proponents of allowing children or creating more dual language programs is Dr. Kim Potoski, and she has found no evidence that just growing up in these bilingual settings will take away from your ability to speak English. On the contrary — It helps you,” Anel Brandl, a professor at Florida State University who teaches Spanish to students with Hispanic heritage, said.

Mia Hernandez is a former student of Brandl’s and has a similar upbringing to Del Dago. Her dad is also from Cuba. Growing up, her parents worried that teaching her Spanish would hinder her ability to speak English, although Brandl says that recent research has disproven that.

Hernandez recently graduated from Florida State University with a minor in Spanish. Now she’s fluent in a language she barely spoke growing up.  

“I feel a lot closer to my Cuban heritage now that I speak Spanish than before when I almost completely rejected it in favor of learning English so that I could fit in with my English-speaking American friends,” Hernandez said. 

Just like Del Dago, learning Spanish transformed her relationships with her family members.

“I think the difference has just been getting to know my grandmother a lot more and about her life growing up in Cuba,” Hernandez said.

She emphasizes that you don’t need to speak Spanish in order to feel connected to your culture.

“I don’t think that it’s something that there should be any guilt or shame around not learning, but I think it’s also up to us to figure out how to move forward, as Cuban Americans, deciding how we want to raise our children, and so whether we want to teach our children Spanish, we want to teach them about maybe the culture and the food,” she said.

Now, Hernandez is training to teach Spanish speakers abroad English, and Del Dago is getting his Ph.D. in art history, focusing on queer Latin artists. Both have worked to connect to their familial heritage through the power of language.

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