DeSantis asks federal judge to toss out migrant flights suit
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration on Tuesday argued that a Massachusetts federal judge should toss out a potential class-action lawsuit filed after Florida flew 49 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in September.
Attorneys for DeSantis, other state officials and the Florida Department of Transportation contended that the lawsuit should be rejected for a series of reasons. The lawsuit alleges that the flights were unconstitutional and violated federal laws.
“Plaintiffs obviously disagree with Florida’s policies and political leaders,” the state’s attorneys wrote in a memorandum of law. “But those disagreements are no substitute for asserting plausible facts or viable legal theories, or for overcoming fatal jurisdictional and immunity obstacles. They are also not a valid legal basis for hauling Florida, one of its agencies, the head of its executive branch and three other state officials into a Massachusetts courtroom.”
The state’s attorneys also
argued that part of the case is “moot” because of a law that the Republican-controlled Legislature passed during a February special session. That law created a migrant-transportation program and repealed a disputed part of the state budget that was used to pay for the September flights.
The lawsuit, filed in September and revised in November, named as plaintiffs three Venezuelan migrants who were on the flights and the non-profit group Alianza Americas. In part, it alleged that the flights violated constitutional due-process and equal-protection rights —
and were a “perverse photo opportunity” intended to help DeSantis politically.
“Defendants preyed upon class plaintiffs, exploiting them in a scheme to boost the national profile of defendant DeSantis and manipulate them for political ends,” the revised version of the lawsuit said. “Defendants knew or should have known that class plaintiffs were vulnerable and destitute, having crossed the U.S. border with Mexico with little to no money or possessions and without concrete prospects of employment. Defendants knew or should have known that these immigrants would be particularly desperate for humanitarian aid.”
The DeSantis administration paid $615,000 to Vertol Systems Company Inc. to fly the migrants Sept. 14 from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard, with a brief stop in the Northwest Florida community of Crestview. The flights, which sparked a national controversy, came as DeSantis frequently criticizes federal border policies and is widely expected to run for the White House in 2024.
The lawsuit alleges that state officials and an organizer, Perla Huerta, deceived the migrants into getting on the flights. Along with arguing that the migrants’ rights were violated, it raises issues such as whether the state violated the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause because immigration is a federal issue.
It seeks damages and an injunction to prevent the state from “inducing immigrants to travel across state lines by fraud and misrepresentation.”
But in Tuesday’s filing, the DeSantis administration argued that the program was designed to “mitigate the negative effects of the migrant ‘surge’ on the state.”
“States and localities governed by both political parties are facilitating the transport of migrants throughout the United States,” the document said. “Private organizations are doing it too. The reason these programs have bipartisan support is simple: There is an ongoing, national migrant crisis that is overwhelming the resources of certain states and localities, often resulting in squalid conditions for the migrants.”
The state’s attorneys also wrote that a Massachusetts federal court should not have jurisdiction over the case. Also Tuesday, the defendants filed a motion to transfer the case to the federal Northern District of Florida.
“To be sure, the planes landed in Massachusetts,” the memorandum of law said. “But plaintiffs’ claims all arose before the plane touched down.”