$5,000 reward for mystery ‘Perla’ who helped DeSantis send San Antonio migrants to Martha’s Vineyard

Any information related to the identity of a certain San Antonio woman is now considered valuable. 

On Saturday, officials with the League of United Latin American Citizens offered a $5,000 cash reward for any information leading to the identification of “Perla,” who is the woman who reportedly helped Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis send 50 Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard last week. Perla allegedly lured those migrants on two Massachusetts-bound flights with false promises, according to previous Express-News reporting

Among the promises made to those immigrants were work opportunities, schooling for children and immigration assistance in Massachusetts. False promises may have also included free housing and three months of work, according to the Cape Cod Times

Until they landed, according to the Express-News, the immigrants did not know they were going to Martha’s Vineyard, a small community of 20,000. LULAC officials said the immigrants were instead told they were bound for Boston. 

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According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, the flights could be considered human trafficking. He opened an investigation into the incident on Tuesday. Officials with LULAC, the oldest and largest civil rights organization for Latin Americans in the U.S., told Texas Public Radio that their goal was to file charges with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office and BCSO. 

On Sept. 17 and 18, LULAC representatives were in San Antonio canvassing the city looking for the woman and putting up wanted posters in areas where she has been reported as working. Perla has been described as a tall, blond woman speaking to migrants in broken Spanish at a McDonald’s parking lot near the Migrant Resource Center at 7000 San Pedro Ave., according to the Boston Globe.  

shepard.price@express-news.net @shepardgprice

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