Small Delaware airport prepares for migrants amid political showdown
Late Tuesday the flight changed course and landed in New Jersey. It's unclear if any migrants were on board.
GEORGETOWN, Delaware (WPVI) -- Officials in Delaware mobilized volunteers and state agencies after reports that a plane carrying migrants would land at a small rural airport Tuesday near President Biden's summer home.
"We are prepared to offer them services and support they may need," said Jill Fredel with Delaware Health and Social Services. "It's a humanitarian effort on our part. We want to support people who might arrive in our state. We have no reports of anyone arriving at this point."
A plane chartered by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to fly migrants to Martha's Vineyard last week was scheduled to fly to Georgetown, Delaware on Tuesday afternoon. It was making stops in Texas and Florida first. Late in the afternoon, the flight changed course and landed in Nashville en route to New Jersey. It's unclear if any migrants were on board.
But some volunteers stayed at the Delaware airport into the evening just in case.
"Do they need medical assistance?" asked Diane Batchik with Luthern Immigration and Refugee Services. "We don't know how long they've been traveling. We don't know how much support they have."
Members of the public also descended on the airport after hearing the news that the plane may be coming. Some sparred in the parking lot over the issue of immigration while others held up welcome signs.
"These are families. These are children. These are people that have needs and should and need to be supported," said Deb Hansen, who drove from Lewes, Delaware to help.
In the end, the plane didn't land in Delaware, but the state showed they are ready to handle migrants if they are brought here.
Some volunteers don't want to see it happen again.
"Stop it. Stop it now," said Batchik. "These are people. These are human beings"
The airport is only about 20 miles from the president's summer home. On Tuesday, the White House lashed out at Gov. DeSantis, calling it a stunt.
"What we're seeing in Delaware today is a political stunt that is being done by Governor DeSantis," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
A Texas sheriff said Monday he was opening a criminal investigation into Gov. DeSantis' migrant flight to Martha's Vineyard as the stunt continues to draw criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans and DeSantis defends what he calls a protest of border policies.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar announced the probe on Monday night, saying that his office believes the migrants who were shuttled to the Massachusetts island on Sept. 14 were lured under false pretenses, which DeSantis denies.
"What infuriates me the most about this case is that here we have 48 people that are already on hard times, right?" Salazar said at a press conference. "They are here legally, in our country. At that point, they have every right to be where they are. And I believe that they were preyed upon."
Immigration attorneys working with some of the asylum-seekers told ABC News that the migrants were given misleading information, including brochures, about benefits they could receive in Massachusetts.
A civil rights group representing at least three of the affected migrants on Tuesday filed a class-action lawsuit against DeSantis and other Florida officials, claiming their clients were lured under false pretenses as part of a "political stunt."
ABC News contributed to this report.
