Perla Haydee Huerta served in the Army for more than 20 years, performing two deployments in Iraq, four in Afghanistan, and one in Djibouti. She is accused of luring migrants to Martha’s Vineyard by promising them food, employment, and housing. (According to CNN)
Perla Huerta, a counterintelligence agent and combat medic specialist in the US Army until August, has been named by CNN as the woman who is accused of helping organize migrant flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts under the alias “Perla.”
The Republican governor of Florida organized two flights carrying about 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last month as part of his criticism of the federal government’s immigration and border security policy. Attorneys for the migrants claim they were deceived into agreeing to the flights after being assured they would arrive at lodging, jobs, and assistance with the immigration process; local officials claim no one on Martha’s Vineyard was aware they were coming.
One migrant who had been sleeping on the streets of San Antonio, Texas, told CNN that a woman named “Perla” promised clothes, food, and cash in exchange for helping her identify others who would board a flight to Massachusetts. The recruiter afterward felt misled by “Perla,” he told CNN, but he was ignorant of any deception at the time.
Huerta’s pal verified to CNN Huerta is the woman in a picture that a migrant gave to CNN. According to Rachel Self, an attorney who represents the migrants, other migrants have recognized Huerta from photographs of her taken in San Antonio, as published by The New York Times.
