Josh Marshall: The Search for "Perla"

[Nevilledog]

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Josh Marshall
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national press is going to have egg on its face when it turns out there's a big story of a governor working with an extra-legal outside group to essentially cross country kidnap a group of migrants https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-search-for-perla… via @TPM

talkingpointsmemo.com
The Search for "Perla"
The national news media seems to have lost interest entirely in the...
1:20 PM · Sep 19, 2022

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-search-for-perla

The national news media seems to have lost interest entirely in the story of the Venezuelan immigrants shipped off to Martha’s Vineyard as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s reelection campaign. The meta-story of course continues to get some attention – how it plays into the midterm, who it helps or hurts as a political story, etc. But I mean what actually happened. That’s unfortunate both in journalistic and political terms because even the barest look at the details we know make it very unlikely this was an official or on the books government operation. And yet it’s one Gov. Desantis has publicly taken credit for and said it was paid for with taxpayer funds from Florida.

In the absence of any national press interest the search has been left to a few local news outlets and LULAC, the Latino civil rights organization. Representatives of LULAC, including national president Domingo Garcia went to Martha’s Vineyard on Friday to talk to the asylum-seekers and get more details about what happened. They were able to flesh out the story about “Perla” and her team in San Antonio. Basically all the stories matched to a T. LULAC has posted a $5,000 reward for informing leading to her identification. LULAC is also canvassing this week in San Antonio trying to find out more information.

From articles in the Cape Cod Times and the San Antonio Report, we learn that Perla was a tall blonde woman with a light complexion. She reportedly worked with two other women and two other men, one of whom drove a white pickup. They apparently housed the migrants a hotel near the airport for multiple days until they reached a quota. The quota was apparently 60 and they were disappointed they weren’t able to get a sufficient number of people. Nothing about this sounds remotely like any kind of state government run or directed operation. At least not on the books.

Judd Legum of Popular Information got a copy of a brochure the migrants were provided allegedly describing benefits available in Massachusetts, which was apparently fabricated by those behind the operation. The brochure was given to Legum by a group called Lawyers for Civil Rights, which says it has information that can be used to identify the people in question.

*snip*

[MLAA]

1. Dust those brochures for prints!

[Nevilledog]

3. I got $5 on Perla being Christina Pushaw

Desantis' old press secretary who's now with his campaign. She's as evil as him.

[MLAA]

4. Hmmm wonder if all government employees have prints on file? I would assume so.

Could send in a senior citizen to drop something in front of her, but she probably is too hateful to pick it up for them. Though asking for her autograph might work considering all that narcissist ego floating around gov dis-sanity.

[Nevilledog]

5. She also had to register as a foreign agent. Sure there'd be prints with that.

[onecaliberal]

15. Yes. Fingerprints have to clear a check before you are hired.

[Lonestarblue]

9. I'm sure the migrants could identify her if they saw a photo.

[liberalla]

20. Exactly! Show them a grouping (line-up) of photos and see if she's recognized...

and by how many of the migrants.

[ancianita]

11. Me, too. She's evil as they come.

[Walleye]

2. The national press has been worse than usual on this

At first they said governors did it to protest. Then once the story about the reverse freedom riders came out they begin calling it a stunt. They never called it a campaign stunt. It took the lawyers to bring attention to really how horrible and illegal. If the journalists don’t on the job job they are going to be a major contributor to the breakdown of our democracy. It’s not like there isn’t a story here people

[sheshe2]

6. Look for this woman, Perla/Cruella.

[spanone]

7. They haven't lost interest, they've turned it into, 'Democrats are doing nothing at the border'

[gratuitous]

8. This is a very big, very ugly story

I can't tell why the popular media have settled on the "prank" or "stunt" to describe this matter. There are criminal implications in it all up and down the line, and for a national political media that was obsessed with an incident of consensual oral sex, it would seem that the possibility of kidnapping and human trafficking charges would be enough to put even the laziest journalist on his or her toes. Instead, they're all Father Flanagan with a beatific smile as the bad actors sulk "Aw, we didn't mean nothin' by it! We was just kiddin' around. Nobody can take a joke anymore."

[Nevilledog]

10. Charter company just got another $950k from DeSantis

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Scott Stedman
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NEWS: (h/t @TampaniaBlog) The Florida aviation company awarded a $615,000 contract to "relocate" the migrants to Martha's Vineyard has received another, $950,000, contract.

They hired a charter for the first flights. Unclear what these payments are actually for.
Image
2:14 PM · Sep 19, 2022

[eppur_se_muova]

16. So now it's over $15,000 per refugee ?

Someone needs to learn how to bargain. Oh, wait, it's not their money. No point.

[Grins]

14. Ha! Yes - pretend it's a blowjob!!!

That will get them going!

[slumcamper]

12. Couple questions for FBI

The hotel...

Where is it & who owns it?
Under whose name were these rooms for 50-60 people registered?
How were they paid for?
If by card, what other transactions were made during that window?
Is there surveillance footage?
Where and how did the perps gain access to refugees?
Were "recruiters" operating/posing as a resettlement agency or social welfare organization?
What are their connections to Florida?

And so much more...

[ancianita]

17. Awesome questions! Did I miss that the FBI has taken up this case? Or is MA still at the stage

of enlisting the DOJ? ( This does seem to have interstate commerce or trafficking issues, though I know nothing about the law on either.)

Whatever this turns out to be, the plaintiffs and defendants better get their stories straight because the DOJ and FBI are hardcore.

[slumcamper]

18. Credit my wife for the questions.

For years, she has subjected me to a steady diet of NCIS.

No, you haven't missed anything on the FBI front. I sure as hope they're on this case. I can't imagine someone isn't, but

Let's hope! Good people of this nation can stand no longer for these wicked, conniving, and immature shenanigans!!
,

[Stuart G]

19. Yes the DOJ and FBI are ..."HARDCORE"..

While it looks like DeSantis will get away with it, the HARDCORE GUYS WILL CATCH THEM."

WHY WILL THAT HAPPEN? De Santis was sure he would succeed with this plan. But remember this:
...........It ain't over till it is "OVER"

,,,,History has proven the above, and there will be much more to come (In my opinion)
....I remember the "Watergate Break In." Many thought it would be over after a few months. (It wasn't) There were some
missing ..."tapes" and it was a Secretary's fault. It wasn't.

My opinion is that if De Santis broke the law, the HARDCORE GUYS WILL CATCH THEM.
THE HARDCORE GUYS ARE NOT NEW. THEY KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG AND THEY CATCH WHO THEY GO AFTER.''

PLEASE GIVE IT TIME. PLEASE....

Thank You for reading this

Stuart G.

[ancianita]

21. Keep in mind, though, that provoking investigations is a trumpist-fascist campaign tactic, used to

promote victimization of the candidate and revive old "lost cause" issues for their voters.

I'm not saying that these govs are doing this ONLY to distract the DOJ and FBI, but it's also a known tactic of the Right to divert media attention to whatever else they're doing. An old Koch trick.

So they get two benefits -- victimization messaging and training state level people in the same tactics.

[jaxexpat]

13. But this story of governereal malfeasance has already been "nothing here-ed".

So it's uphill for the citizen info squad as their quest to overcome the disinformation just became impossible to the point if triviality visa is the "news cycle".

Oh, btw, it is really composed of a number of totally illegal misdemeanorisms for which the system has no stomach to digest. There being so many words to incant before the sleepy eyes of "legitimate" jurisprudence will actually awaken.

You see, "something's happened here and what it is ain't exactly clear". It's called BS because it was originally The Buffalo Springfield's dystopian anti war lyric.