Following a disgraceful political stunt by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of sending two planeloads of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, right-wing media outlets misrepresented the response by local residents while pushing false and inflammatory claims of an “invasion” of immigrants at the southern border.

On September 15, about 50 migrants, most of them asylum-seekers, were unexpectedly flown to Martha’s Vineyard on DeSantis’ orders as part of a cruel political ploy to draw attention to Republican immigration narratives ahead of the midterm elections. These migrants were reportedly misled about their destination by DeSantis’ representatives, told they were going to Boston (instead of an island community 70 miles away) and that government assistance and employment opportunities would be available for them upon arrival. Judd Legum in his newsletter Popular Information obtained a brochure from legal representatives of some of the migrants, which promised this and other false assistance at their destination. 

Local and national news outlets reported on the generous welcome the bewildered migrants received from Martha’s Vineyard residents. NPR reported that “local organizations and community members” provided “around-the-clock support,” focusing on beds, food, clothing, and other necessities. Local students who had studied Spanish volunteered to act as translators. After some time, the migrants were relocated to an emergency shelter on the Massachusetts mainland to better accommodate their health, legal, and other needs, including immigration processing. The Martha’s Vineyard Times and CNN both reported that the departure was emotional for the migrants and the local residents.

Ignoring this widespread reporting, right-wing media still pushed the false narrative that Martha’s Vineyard residents were unwelcoming to the migrants and “deported” them off the island: 

• Fox host Dan Bongino: Martha’s Vineyard residents did “nothing but complain and pull up buses to get people out of the places where they said they wanted to help the illegal immigrants.” [Fox News, Unfiltered with Dan Bongino, 9/17/22]
• Fox host Pete Hegseth: Martha’s Vineyard residents “couldn’t tolerate” migrants “more than 48 hours” and had them “deported.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 9/17/22]
• Fox host Laura Ingraham: Martha’s Vineyard residents “first tried to virtue signal that they were all welcome,” but “less than 24 hours after the migrants arrived … they were deported off the island.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 9/16/22]
• Fox host Sean Hannity: “After a full 24 hours of intense emergency virtue signaling, well, the island's uber-wealthy, uber-woke residents, they booted all of their newly arrived guests out of town.” [Fox News, Hannity, 9/16/22]
• Hannity and DeSantis: Martha’s Vineyard residents were exemplifying “racism and xenophobia,” and the residents did “not welcome them” and “deported them the next day with the National Guard.” [Fox News, Hannity, 9/19/22]
• Fox host Tucker Carlson: The message of the Martha Vineyard residents was ”get the hell out of here, brown people.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/16/22]
• Fox host Will Cain: The media are misleadingly painting this story as Martha’s Vineyard “welcomed [the migrants] with opened arms.” Because even though the community worked together to provide food and shelter, “We can run video of them … loading the illegal immigrants onto a bus out of town and chanting, ‘te amo.’” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 9/18/22]
• Newsmax host Rob Schmitt: “It barely took 24 hours for residents of this all-white, wealthy summer island to band together and kick out 48 brown people who dare to invade their idyllic setting.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 9/16/22]

Right-wing cable news personalities and guests also used this manufactured crisis to appeal to their own false and racist narrative that the U.S. is facing an “invasion” of migrants and urged states to “declare an invasion” at the border:

• One America News Network host Dan Ball: Only “after just a handful of illegals gets dumped in someone’s backyard” are some “liberals” and “lying mainstream media” paying attention to the “outright invasion at our southern border.” [One America News Network, Real America with Dan Ball, 9/19/22]
• Dan Ball: “This nation is facing a massive invasion, and Joe Biden’s unwillingness to secure our southern border has become a national security risk.” [One America News Network, Real America with Dan Ball, 9/18/22]
• Cain and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: In response to Cain’s question about whether Texas should “declare an invasion” to “solve the crisis” at the Texas border, Patrick said, “I’ve been calling this an invasion for a long time.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 9/17/22]
• Fox contributor Leo Terrell: States should “declare an invasion” since “the Biden administration is doing absolutely nothing.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 9/17/22]
• Fox contributor Lisa Boothe: The GOP’s political stunts of busing migrants are “hilarious” and now liberals have to “address the fact that there is a crisis and there is an invasion happening on the southern border.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 9/16/22]
• Former Florida congressman and former chair of the Texas GOP Allen West: Instead of engaging in political stunts, states should instead “declared an invasion and protect themselves.” [Fox News, Unfiltered with Dan Bongino, 9/17/22]
• Frequent Fox guest Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR): “Joe Biden has presided over a slow-motion invasion of our country since he took office.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 9/16/22]
• Frequent right-wing media guest and Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake: Discussing her immigration policies if elected as governor, Lake said she would “call it what it is, issue a declaration of invasion on day one.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/15/22]
• Newsmax correspondent Jaeson Jones: “So you've got to look at it and say to yourself, we're not just under an invasion; we may just very well be a nation at this point that is overrun.” [Newsmax, The National Report, 9/19/22]
• Former FBI Assistant Director Mark Morgan: While fawning over Lake’s proposed immigration plan, Morgan said, “The only way to stop this is for governors to declare an invasion and start removing individuals and secure the border and protect their states.” [Newsmax, Saturday Agenda, 9/17/22]
• Schmitt: Now that the “pious, virtuous liberals” of Martha’s Vineyard “can hate a migrant invasion, so can you.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 9/16/22]
• Newsmax host Eric Bolling: In a segment attacking and disparaging Vice President Kamala Harris, Bolling said, “there’s no question about it that there is a migrant invasion currently underway, and all of it under Joe Biden is leadership.” [Newsmax, Eric Bolling The Balance, 9/16/22]