Advocates Sue Florida Over Refugees Flown To Martha's Vineyard

FLORIDA — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Venezuelan refugees who he flew in two charter planes from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, "political theater."

That's the same term Florida Democratic leaders are using to describe DeSantis' use of $950,000 in taxpayer money to charter the planes through Vertol Systems Company Inc. and fly the undocumented immigrants to the island off Cape Cod last week.

At the center of the controversy are 50 refugees who crossed the Mexican border into Texas to seek asylum from the corrupt Venezuelan government.

The advocacy group Alianza Americas filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of three of the immigrants — known as Yanet, Pablo and Jesus Doe — maintaining that DeSantis coerced the "vulnerable" undocumented immigrants to board the planes bound for Martha's Vineyard using a "fraudulent and illegal scheme."

Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston, representing 30 of the Venezuelan refugees, has joined the lawsuit.

Alianza Americas said the immigrants fled from Venezuela, which is under a top-level "Do Not Travel" advisory issued by the U.S. Department of Health due to the country's repressive authoritarian regime and its "rampant crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, kidnapping, terrorism and wrongful detentions."

After crossing the border into the United States, Alianza Americas said the refugees promptly surrendered themselves to federal immigration officials, who began "federal proceedings to adjudicate their immigration status" as political refugees.

"The plaintiffs have led lives inflicted by violence, instability, insecurity and abuse of trust by corrupt government officials that most Americans could hardly conceive of," said Alianza Americas in the lawsuit. "They fled to the United States in a desperate attempt to protect themselves and their families from gang, police and state-sponsored violence and the oppression of political dissent. They are as deserving of dignity and empathy as anyone among us."

As evidence, the nonprofit advocacy group points to a brochure printed by the state of Florida and distributed to the refugees in San Antonio to convince them to board the planes to Martha's Vineyard. Alianza Americas said the brochure contains "false promises of work, housing, schooling for children and other assistance," including eight months of cash assistance, food, job training and job placement. Some of the immigrants, many of whom had not eaten in days, were also given $10 McDonald's gift certificates to further entice them.

Related stories:

• DeSantis Migrant Flights: Investigation Sought Into Public Money Spent
• DeSantis Flies Undocumented Immigrants To Martha's Vineyard
• Martha's Vineyard Migrants Will Shelter At Cape Base: Charlie Baker

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The brochures, titled “Massachusetts Refugee Benefits/Massachusetts Beneficios para Refugiados,” are given legitimacy with the inclusion of the Massachusetts flag and state's website on them, as well as a photo of a Massachusetts border sign that reads, "Massachusetts Welcomes You," although Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said the state was unaware of DeSantis' intention to fly planeloads of immigrants to Martha's Vineyard and never signed off on the brochure.

Lawyers for Civil Rights said none of the promises in the brochure are true. The benefits described in the brochure are resettlement benefits available to refugees who have been referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and are authorized to live in the United States. They aren't available to immigrants who are in the process of seeking asylum.

These benefits are not available in Massachusetts to the migrants who boarded the flights, who are still in the process of seeking asylum, a process that could take years.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office insists that everything was done on a strictly “voluntary basis" with the consent of the refugees.

“The immigrants were homeless, hungry, and abandoned – and these activists didn’t care about them then," said a statement issued by the governor's office Tuesday. "Florida’s program gave them a fresh start in a sanctuary state and these individuals opted to take advantage of chartered flights to Massachusetts. It was disappointing that Martha’s Vineyard called in the Massachusetts National Guard to bus them away from the island within 48 hours."

DeSantis' office said the immigrants signed releases and were given a brochure with a map of the final destination, Martha's Vineyard. Some of the immigrants were provided lodging, showers and meals prior to boarding the planes, according to the statement.

“It is opportunistic that activists would use illegal immigrants for political theater,” said the governor's office. “If these activists spent even a fraction of this time and effort at the border, perhaps some accountability would be brought to the Biden Administration’s reckless border policies that entice illegal immigrants to make dangerous and often lethal journeys through Central America and put their lives in the hands of cartels and Coyotes.”

The governor's office shared a copy of the consent form signed by the refugees.

Defending DeSantis' actions, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, slammed the advocacy groups Wednesday for filing a lawsuit, saying he's incensed that people who came to the U.S. illegally are now "demanding rights and claims under our laws."

"People came into this country illegally, violating our laws, and the first thing they do is get lawyers and use our laws to sue an elected governor, to sue a state," Rubio said during an interview on Fox News. "Just think about that. They just got here. They're not even here legally. They didn't enter the country the proper way. And they're immediately in court demanding rights and claims under our laws. This is outrageous."

Speaking Friday, DeSantis said this operation to transport immigrants to sanctuary states to prevent them from coming to Florida is just the beginning. He said he intends to use the entire $12 million allocated by the Legislature in the 2022-23 state budget to relocate more immigrants.

He said this is in response to President Joe Biden's lax immigration policies that have resulted in tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants crossing the border each month, leaving states like Florida to provide services for them.

“What’s not humane is he’s given a false promise the borders are open, luring people to come here for political purposes and then basically cutting these people loose and leave them high and dry,” DeSantis said.

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried has been joined by other state Democratic leaders, including U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg, who is running for governor against DeSantis, are demanding that the U.S. attorney general investigate DeSantis' actions, saying the brochure distributed by Florida to the immigrants is evidence that the flights were not just "a callous political stunt but potentially a crime."

DeSantis's communications director, Taryn Fenske, said the governor never attempted to conceal his intention to transport immigrants to sanctuary states.

"States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as 'sanctuary states' and support for the Biden Administration's open border policies," Fenske said.

DeSantis predicted the people in the states will sing a different tune when they are actually confronted with an influx of immigrants.

"When people are brought to their front door, they go berserk," DeSantis said. "Their virtue signaling is a fraud."

However, Massachusetts state Rep. Dylan Fernandes, who represents Martha's Vineyard, said the residents of Martha's Vineyard proved DeSantis wrong. He said the 15,000 people living in Martha's Vineyard welcomed the refugees with open arms, providing them shelter in a local church and pulling together their resources to feed them.

"Our island jumped into action, putting together 50 beds, giving everyone a good meal, providing a play area for the children, making sure people have the health care and support they need. We are a community that comes together to support immigrants," Fernandes said in a tweet.