Florida's Venezuela migrant flight recruiter 'Perla' identified as ex-Army counterintelligence agent

martha's vineyard photo
(Image credit: Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe/Getty Images)

The four dozen Venezuelan asylum-seekers flown to Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 14 have told lawyers and news organizations they were lured onto private planes in Texas by a woman named Perla, who gave them McDonald's gift cards, a hotel room, and false promises of jobs, cash assistance, and housing at the end of the fight. The woman, The New York Times and CNN reported, was recently discharged from the Army and lives in Tampa, Florida.

Perla Huerta, the Times reports, was a combat medic and counterintelligence agent in her two decades in the Army, with several deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. She was discharged last month, according to military records. The Times says it was tipped off to Huerta's identity by a person familiar with the San Antonio sheriff's office investigation of the incident, then confirmed her identity with photos shown to several migrants and a repentant Venezuelan migrant she had used to recruit fellow asylum-seekers. A friend of Huerta's identified her to CNN.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.