Lawsuit says DeSantis ‘duped’ migrants
A civil rights group filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of several immigrants who were transported from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Lawyers for Civil Rights filed suit in federal court in Massachusetts against the Republican governor, the state of Florida and his secretary of transportation, Jared Perdue.
Three of the migrants are lead plaintiffs in the suit. In a statement, the Lawyers for Civil Rights said it also filed the complaint on behalf of Alianza Americas, a network of migrantled organizations supporting immigrants in the U.S.
Last week, DeSantis took credit for sending two chartered jets with nearly 50 immigrants — most of them from Venezuela — to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., catching officials there off-guard and setting off a mad scramble to get the migrants food, clothing and shelter.
They apparently were recruited by DeSantis operatives at the Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio, a centralized social-services and transportation operation for asylum seekers flooding the Texas border who have been processed and released by the U.S. Border Patrol.
The lawsuit alleged the migrants were convinced to board two airplanes at Kelly Field on the Southwest Side last week and across state lines under false pretenses.
The suit said accomplices of Florida officials targeted immigrants who’d recently been released from shelters with false promises of work opportunities, schooling for the children and immigration assistance in Massachusetts.
Until immediately before landing, the immigrants did not know they were going to the Massachusetts island known as a vacation spot for the wealthy.
Once the planes landed, those who’d lured them to travel to Martha’s Vineyard disappeared, leaving the immigrants to discover the offers of assistance had all been a ruse to exploit them for political purposes, the suit said.
“No human being should be used as a political pawn in the nation’s highly polarized debate over immigration,” said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of the Lawyers for Civil Rights.
His organization has been helping coordinate pro bono legal assistance and assisted in escorting the migrants to a military base in Cape Cod.
“For the governor of Florida to cynically use recently arrived immigrants who have applied for asylum in the U.S. to advance a hate-driven agenda ... is not only morally despicable, but utterly contrary to the best traditions of humanitarian protection embraced by most Americans,” said Oscar Chacón, executive director of Alianza Americas.
DeSantis has rejected claims that his plan was a political stunt.