On Tuesday, The Hill reported the following:
The group of Venezuelan migrants flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., last week by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) filed a class-action suit against the governor and the state’s transportation secretary on Tuesday.
The suit provides a detailed account of how the migrants came to board the two planes allegedly under false pretenses, arguing the relocations violated their Fourth and 14th Amendment rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
People who broke the law to get here and are here illegally have rights? Wow. Does America have the right to arrest them for breaking into our country?
The article continues:
The suit, filed in a federal trial court in Massachusetts, asks a judge to declare DeSantis’s relocations illegal under the Constitution as well as federal and state laws. It also asks the judge to prevent Florida from inducing immigrants to travel across state laws by fraud and misrepresentation.
Did Martha’s Vineyard have the right to move them to another part of Massachusetts?
The article reports:
Alianza Americas, a network of groups supporting immigrants, filed the class action suit with three unnamed migrants DeSantis relocated, claiming the scheme also constituted intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and fraud.
Boston-based group Lawyers for Civil Rights said its attorneys, who have been on the island since last week, are representing the plaintiffs.
Are any of those lawyers offering to house any of the illegal immigrants?
The article concludes:
The plaintiffs said the migrants boarded the flights with the belief they would land in Washington, D.C. or Boston, but they were told while in the air they would instead be arriving in Martha’s Vineyard.
They were also allegedly given a brochure that outlined support services in Massachusetts, but the programs referenced had “highly specific eligibility requirements” that the migrants did not meet, the suit said.
“Once the individual Plaintiffs and class members landed, it became clear that the promises made to induce them on the planes were in fact bold-faced lies,” it stated.
The migrants have since been relocated to a military base elsewhere in Massachusetts.
DeSantis has said the flights were “just the beginning” of relocation efforts.
I believe it is noteworthy that the migrants were removed from Martha’s Vineyard less than two days after they arrived. It is off season on the Vineyard, and it would have been very easy to put 50 people up in hotel rooms. However, that was not allowed to happen. I wonder if the year-round residents of the Vineyard will now take down their yard signs that say everyone is welcome here and hate has no place here. It’s very easy to welcome everyone when you are an island only accessible by plane or boat.