60 Minutes - 10/15/2023: President Biden, Rescue at the Kibbutz, The 50

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

As the Israel-Hamas war intensifies and Russia's assault on Ukraine continues, Scott Pelley meets with President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss the United States' role in these raging conflicts, efforts to locate American hostages, the brutality discovered in Israel and Gaza, and the state of the war in Ukraine. Lesley Stahl returns to Israel to meet the family behind the heroic rescue effort at kibbutz ​Nahal Oz after it was attacked by Hamas. 60 Minutes revisits the story of 50 migrants who arrived in the United States through Texas in 2022 and were transported to Martha's Vineyard by Florida officials. Sharyn Alfonsi reports on the investigation into those flights by a Texas Sheriff who calls what happened a “covert criminal operation.” To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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to more. More perks, more points, more flights, more of all the things you want in a travel rewards card, and then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO VI Porter MasterCard and get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months. Terms and conditions apply. Visit bmo.com slash viporter to learn more. Because of what we're seeing in the Middle East, is the threat of terrorism in the United States increased? Yes. Tonight, President Biden on the escalating war in the Middle East, Russia's war in Ukraine, and the political paralysis on Capitol Hill. Are the wars in Israel and Ukraine more than the United States can take on at the same

time? No, the war in the United States of America, for God's sake. The massacre of civilians in southern Israel has residents shaken and angry. Where was the military when Hamas attacked? Where was the government? This grandfather and former general refused to wait to save his son's family. At that moment, we knew that we are going there. I took my pistol and we went. We basically killed the terrorists there. I killed at least one. You may recall the story of the 50 migrants who were unexpectedly dropped off on the island of Martha's Vineyard,

seven miles off the coast of Massachusetts. The migrants all had permission to be in the United States pending asylum hearings and were in Texas, but it was Florida officials who arranged the flights north. I mean, I was shocked. Like, why, why Bexar County? You're, you're the Florida governor. You know, why are you messing with people in Bexar County that are here legally at that point, by the way? I'm Leslie Stahl. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm Sharon Alfonsi. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Cecilia Vega.

I'm Scott Pelley. Those stories and more tonight on 60 Minutes. Every journey I take leaves a lasting impact. Traveling the world only makes me realize just how much more there is to explore. No one builds a legacy by standing still. Start your journey at Remover.com. When does fast grocery delivery through Instacart matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without the grainy mustard.

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Late Thursday, we met President Biden at the White House. It had been a rough week, and we could see it on him. Mr. Biden will be 81 next month, and he has said that when he's tired, his lifelong stutter can creep back in. But he wedged us into his schedule to express his commitment to Israel after the massacre of more than a thousand civilians eight days ago. Twenty-nine Americans were killed, 15 are missing, and at least a small number of them are known to have been taken hostage. In a video call on Friday, Mr. Biden had this message for Americans in Israel whose loved ones have vanished. He was saying we're going to do everything in our power to find those who are still alive and set them free.

Everything in our power. And I'm not going to go into the detail of that, but we're working like hell on it. Why do you feel so strongly about speaking to these families personally on Zoom? Because I think they have to know that the President of the United States of America cares deeply about what's happening, deeply. We have to communicate to the world this is critical. This is not even human behavior. It's pure barbarism and we're going to do everything in our power to get them home if we can find them. Friday's hour-long call with 14 families included a father who told us the president

answered desperate pleas with empathy and patience. Is getting the American hostages back safely among your highest priorities now? Of course it is, but it's hard to make distinctions. The most important thing is ending this brutality and to hold those who committed it accountable. To confront the brutality, Mr. Biden ordered two aircraft carriers plus cruisers and destroyers to the region. There are about 900 U.S. troops in Syria on a counterterrorism mission since 2015. Can you foresee U.S. troops in combat in this new Middle East war? I don't think that's necessary. Israel has one of the finest fighting forces in the country. I guarantee we're going to provide them everything they need.

Because of what we're seeing in the Middle East, is the threat of terrorism in the United States increased? JOHN BARRINGER Yes. I had a meeting this morning with the Homeland Security people, with the FBI, for the Situation Room for the better part of an hour to discuss how we make sure that we prevent a lone wolf and or any coordinated effort to try to do what was done in synagogues before, do what was done to Jews in the street. And so we're making a major effort to make sure that doesn't happen. Saturday, October 7th, has been called Israel's 9-11.

More than 1,000 Hamas terrorists from Gaza smashed through a border wall to commit mass murder. Families in their homes. Crowds at a concert. People in the street. Israel is striking back with the largest bombardment of Gaza ever. More than 2,000 have been killed by Gaza's count. Certainly about 1,200 Israeli civilians were killed in the initial attack, but now Hamas fighters and Palestinian civilians are being killed in the counterattack. Is it time for a ceasefire? Look, there's a fundamental difference.

Israel is going after a group of people who engage in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust. And so I think Israel has to respond. They have to go after Hamas. Now, Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They're hiding behind the civilians. They put their headquarters where civilians are in buildings and the like. But to the extent that they can separate out and avoid,

I'm confident the Israelis are going to do everything in their power to avoid the killing of innocent civilians. Hamas is an Islamist terrorist group and the government of Gaza. Gaza is 25 miles long and averages 5 miles wide. Israel severely limits its economy, so most Gazans are destitute. Now, Israel has cut off food, fuel, electricity, and most water, and has ordered one million Gazans to evacuate to the southern half of Gaza. The UN warns of a humanitarian disaster. There are about two million people in Gaza. As you know, Mr. President, two million people trapped, about half of them are

children. Are you asking Israel to establish a humanitarian corridor in that area or get humanitarian supplies? Yes, our team is talking with them about that and whether there could be a safe zone. We're also talking with the Egyptians, whether there is an outlet to get these children and women out of that area at this moment. But it's hard. You would like to see a humanitarian corridor that allows some of the two million Gazans out of the area? Yes.

You would like to see humanitarian supplies brought into Gaza? Yes. So you do not agree with the Israeli total siege of the Gaza Strip? I'm confident that Israel is going to act under the measure, the rules of war. There's a standard that democratic institutions and countries will go by. And so I'm confident that there's going to be an ability for the innocents in Gaza to be able to have access to medicine and food and water. Would you support Israeli occupation of Gaza at this point? I think it'd be a big mistake. Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view,

is Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don't represent all the Palestinian people. And I think that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again. But going in and taking out the extremists, the Hezbollah is up north, but Hamas down south is a necessary requirement. Do you believe that Hamas must be eliminated entirely? Yes, I do. But there needs to be a Palestinian authority.

There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state. That path, called the two-state solution, has been U.S. policy for decades. It would create an independent nation next to Israel for five million Palestinians who live in Gaza and on the West Bank of the Jordan River. And you believe Israel would pursue that after what's occurred? Not now. Not now. But I think Israel understands that a significant portion of the Palestinian people do not share the views

of Hamas and Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a powerful Islamist militia to Israel's north, which is armed and trained by Iran. Iran also supports Hamas. There's limited fighting already on the northern Israeli border, and I wonder what is your message to Hezbollah and its backer, Iran? Don't. Don't, don't, don't. Don't come across the border. Don't escalate this war.

That's right. Is Iran behind the Gaza war? I don't want to get into classified information, but to be very blunt with you, there is no clear evidence of that. At this point, no evidence that Iran is behind any of this. Correct. Now, Iran constantly supports Hamas and Hezbollah. I don't mean that. But in terms of did they have foreknowledge? Did they help plan the attack? There's no evidence of that at this point. The president is asking for billions of dollars for Israel and Ukraine.

But Congress is paralyzed. Hard right Republicans are obstructing the election of a Speaker of the House. Does the dysfunction that we've seen in Congress increase the danger in the world? Yes. Look, this is not your father's Republican Party. 30% of it is made up of these MAGA Republicans who are maybe... Democracy is something I don't...

They don't look at it the same way you and I look at democracy. Are the wars in Israel and Ukraine more than the United States can take on at the same time? We're the United States of America, for God's sake. The most powerful nation in the history, not in the world, in the history of the world. The history of the world. We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense. Russia's unprovoked invasion occupies nearly 20% of Ukraine.

Hundreds of thousands have been killed or wounded. In an interview last month, President Volodymyr Zelensky told us he could lose without U.S. aid. How do these wars in Israel and Ukraine relate to the safety of the American people? Overwhelmingly they relate. For example, in Ukraine, one of my objectives was to prevent Putin, who has committed war crimes himself, from being able to occupy an independent country that borders NATO allies and is on the Russian border. Imagine what happens now if he were able to succeed. Have you ever known a major war in Europe we didn't get sucked into? We don't want that to

happen. We want to make sure those democracies are sustained. And Ukraine is critical in making sure that happens. Mr. Biden told us images of October 7th reminded him of the Holocaust, which he has studied, taking his family to the Dachau death camp in Germany. This is 2015. The man in the wheelchair is a Dachau survivor. Behind Mr. Biden is the president's granddaughter. I want my children and grandchildren to fully understand exactly what happened and why you couldn't deny the carnage going on if you were living in Germany and in Europe. Why do you feel so strongly? What does Israel mean to you?

The Jews have been subject to abuse, prejudice, and attempt to wipe them out for over a thousand years. For me, it's about decency, respect, honor. It's just simply wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It violates every religious principle I have in every way and every single principle my father taught me. As we spoke to the president, his secretary of state was in Israel. His defense secretary was at a NATO meeting on Ukraine. America's oldest president seemed tired from directing all of this, but he was very clear on what he stood for and how his policies, in his view, would see America through. Mr. President, given these two wars and the dysfunction in Congress,

are you sure that you want to run again? Yes, because I'm sure, look, when I ran, I said the world's at an inflection point. The world's changing, but we have an opportunity to make it. So imagine if we were able to succeed in getting the Middle East put in place where we have normalization of relations. I think we can do that. Imagine what happens if we, in fact, unite all of Europe and Putin is finally put down where he cannot cause the kind of trouble he's been causing. We have enormous opportunities, enormous opportunities to make it a better world. Meet Tim's new Oreo Mocha Ice Caps with Oreo in every sip. Perfect for listening to the A-side or Or B-side. Or bull-side.

Order yours on the Tim's app today at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. Sometimes historic events suck. But what shouldn't suck is learning about history. I do that through storytelling. History That Doesn't Suck is a chart-topping history-telling podcast chronicling the epic story of America

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little over a mile away down this road. This area was the hardest hit by Hamas. As you can see behind me, it was almost completely overrun by the surprise invasion. One of the first places to be infiltrated was Nacho Az. It's a kibbutz, a small, tight-knit agricultural community that's very close by this way. The population was small, just about 500. People living there used to say, it's a little slice of heaven on the border of hell.

People like Amir T. Bone, a senior correspondent at the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, and his wife Miri, a social worker, who lived in Nahal Oz with their two small children. So let's go back to Saturday morning. It's early. It's a beautiful day. 6 a.m. You hear something. I heard the whistle of a rocket,

and I'm just like, I'm here. Get up. And we just ran like crazy into the safe room, which is the girls' bedroom. Wait, the girls' bedroom is your safe room? This is in every community along the border. In every house, there is a room that is built on, out of special strong concrete. And you call it the safe room

because it's supposed to withstand direct attacks from rockets and mortars. Most families, that's where they put the kids to sleep at night. Because then if there's a siren at 6 a.m., safe room because it's supposed to withstand direct attacks from rockets and mortars. Most families, that's where they put the kids to sleep at night. Because then if there's a siren at 6 a.m., the parents run to the children and not the other way around. And so we're accustomed to this. How did you begin to realize it was not going to be a typical rocket attack? It's a moment I will never forget when we started hearing the automatic gunfire. And we looked at each other, and we just both had the same look of...

They're here. They're here. They're here. We heard the Arabic. I'm here. They're here. They were that close? At first, it was from the fields of the kibbutz, and then you heard it in the neighborhood, and then you heard it outside our window. Are they screaming for you to get out of the house?

What are they saying? They were not counting on us to get out on our own. They were screaming to each other how to get in. Videos shot and posted by Hamas show them shooting up the kibbutz, including this picture of them actually leaning on Amir and Miri's house. They shot ammunition through the living room window, and we just heard that, and it sounded

like they're inside the house. What about these two little girls? Weren't they screaming and crying? Our girls are so, so brave, and we told them, girls very very sorry but we have to keep quiet and they were at one and three they were quiet for the most of the time they were amir started texting his colleagues and soon realized the magnitude of the attack. I realized nobody's going to come. And I called my father. And I said, this is the situation. You know, the terrorists, maybe they're inside the house,

maybe they're outside, we're not sure. All over the kibbutz right now, people are crying for help, and nobody's coming. And this may be it. People are crying for help and nobody's coming. And this may be it. At that moment, we knew that we are going there. I took my pistol and we went. Noam Tibon is dad, he's grandpa, and he's a big deal retired major general who was the senior commander of the Israeli paratroopers,

and he led forces in the West Bank and at the border with Lebanon. He and Grandma Ghali jumped in their Jeep in Tel Aviv and started heading south to rescue their family. We were in a situation that there is no government, there is no military, only citizens. And so who else? While she was driving, the general was texting with his son. So he writes to me, what's going on? And I reply, there are terrorists in the neighborhood, I think also inside the house. I wrote him, be quiet, don't move, locked everything. And he asks me if the dog is in the house. And I said, I don't think he's alive.

I thought he was dead because they had fired so much into the house. Ghali drove at top speed until they were stopped at checkpoints and told they could go no further. And then we started to talk to the policemen and say, we have to go, you must let us go. And they were not willing to do that. So we bypassed them. Through the fields. We had a jeep. We had the jeep. And then on the next one, we just, we just left. Yeah, they stopped and I say, you know what, we are going. It's our son. It's our granddaughters. You want, you can shoot me. We are going. As the grandparents drew closer to the kibbutz, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. We saw things that, you know, you don't see normally. Burning cars, bodies on the road. And then there were a man and a woman

rushing to us, running. And we stopped, and they said, Save us. Save us? Yeah. Barr and Lior Matzner were escaping the music festival massacre. Thousands were fleeing, some on foot, others, like them, jumped in their cars.

He tell me to get down, so I do like this, and he also drive like this. And we don't understand anything. We just understand that someone is shooting our car and a lot of shoots. As this dash cam video from another car shows, lots of vehicles were shot at. Barr and Lior's was disabled by bullets, but they were able to escape. There was a forest there and trees. A lot of trees and a lot of big dry leaves. So I tell him, let's get all these dry leaves and just put on our face, everything, that they will not see us. They try to get help. I call the police, there is no answer. I call the ambulance, there is no answer.

And after two hours or three three hours we don't know. Two hours? Where are you for two hours? In the same position. You're buried under a pile of leaves. Eventually they were able to make a run for the road and spotted the grandparents racing south in the jeep. You just need to understand, Noam and his wife is on the way to their own sons. But they stop and take us. They don't know us. They take us to save Zun. Wow. They save our life. Meanwhile, Amir in their safe room says he could hear neighbors being dragged off.

These are pictures of the aftermath in a nearby house in which, as you can see in this live-streamed Hamas propaganda video, gunmen were holding that family captive. The father's leg is bleeding. They are now assumed to be hostages in Gaza. The Hamas terrorists, I mean, there were hundreds of them around and inside the kibbutz. The numbers are impossible to comprehend.

There are two kibbutzes near yours, Be'eri and Kfar Aza. What happened there? In those two communities, hundreds of people were slaughtered. Be'eri and Kfar Aza, and the music festival that happened near one of them. Those are the three scenes of the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust ended. As the general and Gali got back on the road to the kibbutz, they told us they came upon a group of soldiers, one of whom agreed to

join them to help. But because of the danger, they decided to drop Gali off at a roadside shelter and pressed on without her. On the road ahead of them, they see a military jeep ambushed by Hamas, and several soldiers there are killed and injured. My father and this brave soldier who joined him get off the car and start fighting. Join the firefight. We basically killed the terrorists there. I killed at least one. But he faced a dilemma. During the firefight, two Israeli soldiers were wounded and needed to be evacuated to a hospital, and that meant his family would have to wait again. Otherwise they will bleed to death.

So I said, okay, I'm taking them, you know, because no way that they are going to die there. Okay. This is the second time that morning that my parents are getting closer to us and they turn around to help someone else. They take the wounded soldiers to where my mother is. And she took the wounded to a hospital while the general happened upon an old army buddy, another grandfather, and they headed back to rescue his son's family. So where were the police? Where was the military? Why did a grandfather have to go to rescue you?

That's a very good question, Leslie. I hope all of Israel is asking this question. It's the biggest failure in the history of the state of Israel. Civilians by the hundreds were being massacred by terrorists and nobody came. I've never been more proud. This is a security announcement.

Please proceed directly to the closest shelter on your floor. An alert. Rocket fire over Tel Aviv. We are in a safe place here. We're underground. We're underground. We're okay. We were struck by how calm they were. We're cool. We're OK. We were struck by how calm they were... We're cool. ...given what they went through just days ago,

as they waited hours for Dad. But once Dad finally got to the kibbutz, before he went to Amir's, he joined a group of Israeli special forces and went house to house with them, methodically clearing out the terrorists. At that point, Hamas was in control, obviously, of this kibbutz. They were, they occupied it. Basically, the Hamas was in control. And, you know, we start to get in, and we saw bodies, some of them terrorists, some Israelis.

On this situation, you have to work very, very focused. Okay, you have to clean one house and then go to the next house and then go to the next house. Because if you run too fast, they will shoot you from the behind. And it takes time. We're at that point still stranded in the safe room. We have no cell phone by that point. We don't know where my father is, but we begin to hear very close exchanges of gunfire. How many hours by that point had you been in the safe room? By now it's, I think, eight, nine hours that we're inside. No electricity, no food. Two girls that are the biggest heroes in the world, keeping quiet.

Then, at four o'clock, after an hour of door-to-door combat, the retired general finally reached their house. I went straight to the window of this armor room when they were hiding. I knock on the window and I said, Amir, it's dead. of this armor room when they were hiding, I knock on the window and I said, Amir, it's dead. And we hear my father's voice. He says something like, you know, open, open. And Galia, our older daughter, she says,

, grandfather is here. And that's the first time we started crying. For now, Amir, Miri, and the girls are living with the grandparents in Tel Aviv, as is the dog. Many other survivors of Nahil Oz were evacuated to another kibbutz in the north, having buried at least 10 of their dead. They're still looking for more than 10 who are missing, presumed to be hostages. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee, and more.

Limited time only at participating Wendy's Taxes Extra. A surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has choked the country's immigration system. Over the last year, about 2 million migrants have been apprehended trying to cross into the U.S. Another 1,500, seeking asylum, are allowed in every day. Shelters are overflowing, resources are stretched thin, and lawmakers seem incapable of fixing it. There is no shortage of dysfunction or drama. slowing, resources are stretched thin, and lawmakers seem incapable of fixing it. There is no shortage of dysfunction or drama. But one episode on the border last year caught the attention of law enforcement.

You may recall the story of the 50 migrants who were unexpectedly dropped off on the island of Martha's Vineyard, seven miles off the coast of Massachusetts. The migrants all had permission to be in the United States, pending asylum hearings, and were in Texas, but it was Florida officials who arranged the flights north. Tonight, you will hear about the investigation into those flights, and why one sheriff says it was more than just a cruel political stunt. He says it was a crime. In the early hours of September 14, 2022, 50 migrants lined up on the tarmac of a military airfield in San Antonio, Texas, and boarded two private jets. The flight manifest shows each plane carried 25 migrants. Six others who'd helped arrange the flights were also on board. Hours later, the migrants landed here, more than 2,000 miles away on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard.

These people were exhausted and did not know what was going on. They just were terrified. They really didn't know they were on an island or anything. They had no idea they were coming to a small island. Jackie Stallings and her husband Larkin own a dive bar on the vineyard called The Ritz. They were among the first to be called in to help. Jackie speaks Spanish. I immediately said, you know, welcome and how are you? Are you okay? What do you need? They started telling me like their resumes. I can do this. I can do this. They all wanted to work. Jackie says the migrants seemed shell-shocked. Some were sick. Help soon poured in from every corner of the island, along with a flood of reporters,

after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took credit for the flights as part of his newly-minted $12 million migrant relocation program. They were hungry, homeless. They had no opportunity at all. The state of Florida, it was volunteer, offered transport to sanctuary jurisdictions. But the Florida governor's office didn't tell anyone on the vineyard about the plan. Islanders did not think it was an oversight. I think there was this idea that by dropping these migrants off in Martha's Vineyard, they were going to stick it to rich white people, liberal elitists. No, that's hilarious because he missed it by two weeks.

He did. They were all gone. Who was left? And so what's left is working class folks, the teachers and the doctors and the tavern owners. What he did is he got a bunch of hardworking folks to come together and solve a problem. The story caught the attention of Sheriff Javier Salazar in San Antonio. He's the highest-ranking uniformed law enforcement officer in Bexar County, Texas, about 140 miles north of the border with Mexico. What was your reaction when you heard that they were taken from your county?

I mean, I was shocked. Like, why Bexar County? You're the Florida governor. Why are, why are you messing with people in Bear County that are here legally at that point, by the way? You know, they're not undocumented anymore. They've been documented. They're here legally. San Antonio Police Department before he was elected sheriff in 2016. He asked his organized crimes unit to investigate. After eight months, they uncovered what Sheriff Salazar calls a covert criminal operation carried out by individuals who were contracted by the Florida governor's office. When you move people from point A to point B under conditions of deception, then that qualifies as unlawful restraint. I think when you hear unlawful restraint, you think gun to the head.

They didn't have a gun to their head. No, they didn't. They didn't have a gun to their head. This was not done by inducement. It was done by deception. The deception, Salazar says, began here, outside the Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio. So explain how this all went down. From what we're able to tell at this point, basically it looks like they drove around the area looking for people that may look like the target audience that they're after, and then made the approach.

The targets he's talking about are migrants, like Daniel Caro. The 30-year-old from Venezuela made the months-long journey through Central America with his sister Daisy and two cousins. They surrendered at the U.S. border in early September, requested asylum, and were lawfully permitted to enter the U.S. Days later, they were outside the resource center, tired and hungry, when Daniel says two women in a white SUV offered help. One spoke Spanish. She was saying, we want to send you to a state where there are not so many migrants, and you're going to have a lot of help because you're going to have housing and all that.

Is Massachusetts ever mentioned as a possibility? No. She never said Massachusetts. Did the woman in the SUV give you her name? Yes. She said her name was Perla. Perla is Perla Huerta, who the migrants identified as the woman in this photo. According to the Pentagon, Huerta is a former U.S. Army counterintelligence agent. Dozens of texts obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability reveal that Huerta was in Texas looking for migrants to fill the plains.

Her progress was reported back to key members of the Florida governor's office. In mid-August of 2022, Huerta texted then-Florida Public Safety Czar Larry Keefe as she searched for migrants in Texas. Just got back, churches were empty. On September 5th, Keefe sends this progress note to James Utmeyer, then chief of staff for Governor DeSantis. I'm back out here. Conditions are quite favorable. Utmeyer replies, very good. You have my full support. Call anytime.

Six days later, Keefe, the public safety czar, informs Utmeier, the governor's chief of staff, that the two planes could be filled to capacity. We are at 50. A delighted Perla Huerta put it this way, Yahtzee, we're full. For days, the migrants were housed and fed at this $59-a-night hotel near the San Antonio airfield. The afternoon before they left, Daniel says Pearlie gave them a $10 McDonald's gift card. He still carries his. She said, here's a card, but I need you to sign this sheet. And we said, okay. We were hungry, so we signed it. And she said, you have to sign to be able to get the card.

This is what they signed, a consent to transport form. The migrants say the abbreviations for Texas and Massachusetts were filled in by someone else. Nowhere on the form does it say Martha's Vineyard. The next morning, the 50 migrants boarded the private jets. Daniel and Daisy were excited. It was the first time either of them had been on a plane. Flight data shows the jets took off at 8 a.m., stopped in Crestview, Florida, and again in the Carolinas to refuel. They landed on Martha's Vineyard around 3 p.m. The migrants were escorted onto waiting buses

and then dropped off by the side of the road. According to public records, the operation cost Florida more than $600,000, about $12,000 a migrant. Look, if you're going to take somebody and fly them hundreds of miles away, do it under full disclosure. Hey, you're going to get on this plane, we're going to take you from point A to point B, and I don't know what's going to happen. There's nothing there set up for you when you get there. So you're on your own. You in or not? I would think some of those people may still say, you know what exploited them, took advantage of the situation that they were in, a very desperate situation, and then took them there under false pretenses. And when you say false pretenses, you're saying they lied to them. Absolutely, they lied to them. They told them they were going to get jobs there and housing there. And, you know, just everything. The answer to your prayers is on this plane and we'll take you

to the promised land. You know, the streets are paved with gold. Nobody, absolutely nobody knew they were going to the island of Martha's Vineyard. Rachel Self is a criminal defense and immigration lawyer who happens to live on the island of Chappaquiddick, just off the eastern end of the vineyard. Self, who speaks Spanish, says the migrants who'd all followed the laws to enter the country, were now most worried about missing their mandatory immigration check-ins, which were scheduled all over the country. And what happens if you miss that check-in? If you miss that check-in, there's a potential that you could be placed into proceedings and deported in absentia. One migrant left the group for the mainland.

Self arranged later check-in dates for the other 49. And at that point, it was just, we've been told this, told this, told this. You know, we're going to give you jobs. Are you my lawyer that I'm going to get? You know, where's the house that I'm going to be living in? As proof of the promises, most were clutching paperwork they say was handed to them 15 minutes before they landed on the vineyard. It says Massachusetts refugee benefits, Massachusetts welcomes you, and this is not even a flag for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The governor's office said the packet included a map of Martha's Vineyard, so it was obvious where they were going. It was not obvious where they were going. They didn't get that map until 15 minutes before the plane landed. I don't know about you, but I'm not aware of being able to change my mind mid-flight. The pamphlet also advertised benefits and services, cash and housing assistance, employment programs, job placement, and English classes. So they didn't have access to any of that? None of that.

I mean, it says it's refugees. They're not technically refugees. They're not. No, they're parolees seeking asylum. None of these benefits apply to them, and whoever perpetrated the scheme didn't realize that. Rachel Self says if immigration officials determined the 49 migrants were victimized, they could receive justice in the form of something called a U visa. And in order to qualify for a U visa, you need two things. You need to have a certification from a law enforcement official that you were a victim of a crime. And you then need to show that you, you know, that you suffered as a result of the crime. In my possession, I have my 49 certs. So she flew to Texas with a stack of U visa certifications for Sheriff Javier Salazar to sign. After careful review, he did.

So if the intention of this stunt was to look tough on migrants, what did it actually do? Ironically, it provided them a completely independent, available path to legalize their status here. Only Daniel, Daisy, and their cousins remain on the vineyard, working odd jobs to pay the bills. The other 45 settled on the mainland. They've all begun the years-long wait for their asylum cases and U visas to be processed. It's Congress's failure to act that has caused this to become

such a major broken issue in this nation. We used to parole people into the country and grant them work authorization in the same stamp. But now it takes years to get work authorization. So it creates this vacuum for labor abuses to thrive, housing abuses to thrive, human trafficking to thrive. The governor's office has said that these migrants were abandoned. They were homeless. They were hungry. And they gave them a chance to go to, quote, greener pastures.

Oh, my gosh. Give me your tired, your hungry, right? He's certainly saying all the right things to make himself sound like a Boy Scout in this situation. But again, you're a schoolyard bully who took advantage of people that you thought were people of no consequence, and now you're getting called on your crap. No one in the Florida governor's office has been charged with any crimes related to the flights. They declined to speak to 60 Minutes about the operation. In June, Sheriff Salazar recommended felony and misdemeanor criminal charges against two suspects he would not name but described as the female recruiters involved in the operation. The sheriff's recommendation is under review by the Bexar County District Attorney.

So you can't see it from here, but about eight blocks over my left shoulder is the Alamo. Word is that there was a line drawn in the sand with a sword. And somebody said, not one more damn inch. Me presenting this case to the District Attorney's office was me saying just that. Not one more damn inch. so your expense report will practically write itself. Quite the breakthrough. It's like we've been teleported into the future. All right. So, just curious, would you give us written permission to convert your matter into energy patterns and reassemble you at, say, random travel destinations?

Margaret, are you building a teleporter? No. Yes. SAP Concur helps your business move forward faster. Learn more at Concur.com. Now an update on Leslie Stahl's story last month about how a group of current and former military reservists had poured into the streets of Israel, along with many thousands of others, to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's move to weaken the country's Supreme Court. Co-founded by Eyal Neveh, Brothers and Sisters in Arms members warned Israel was

taking a step towards autocracy. They threatened not to report for duty if called up. But after Hamas terrorists attacked eight days ago, Brothers and Sisters in Arms rushed to either serve in the military or, like Eyal Neveh, set up an operation distributing food, clothes, and supplies, identifying the missing, and reunifying families. I'm Sharon Alfonsi. We'll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.