HOWDY, NEIGHBOR:

They left Venezuela months ago and traversed Central America on bus, train, and foot. Then, famously, they flew to Martha's Vineyard on private planes and ferried to the mainland to stay, for a time, on a military base.

Now, the Martha's Vineyard migrants are achieving some semblance of stability, or at least striving to do so. Forty-seven of them have found housing in Massachusetts -- in Lowell, Brockton, Stoughton, Provincetown, and other towns on Cape Cod, according to Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the head of Lawyers for Civil Rights.

Four have even returned to Martha's Vineyard, where the group first landed on Sept. 14, according to Rachel Self, a lawyer on the island who has assisted the migrants since their arrival. (Two of the 49 migrants have moved to New York.)

Meanwhile, their prospects for remaining in the United States long term have received a boost from a Texas law enforcement official.

Last week, the Bexar County sheriff in San Antonio certified that the migrants originally taken to the Vineyard are legally victims of a crime who are assisting a law enforcement investigation, according to Self, who said she traveled to Texas to complete the certification process.

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