On Sept. 14, 50 asylum seekers, many from Venezuela, unexpectedly arrived in two planes on the Massachusetts vacation island of Martha’s Vineyard. Right-wing Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was behind the flights, which were part of a $12 million state program to transport immigrants out of Florida.
The migrants, who were flown from Texas to Florida and then on to Martha’s Vineyard, served as unsuspecting props in the Republican party’s pre-midterm election culture war campaign, where GOP governors in Texas, Arizona and Florida have packed immigrants into buses bound for blue state cities including Washington, New York and Chicago, in an attempt to “own the libs” and highlight the increase in illegal immigration on the U.S. southern border.
The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in Boston and the group Alianza Americas, has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida on behalf of a group of affected migrants, including the families who were purposefully misled into boarding the planes to Martha’s Vineyard. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights staff attorney Jake Love, who discusses the exploitation of immigrants by extremist Republican politicians for political purposes and the need for DeSantis and others to be held accountable for violating federal immigration law by engaging in acts some legal experts have deemed human trafficking or smuggling.
JAKE LOVE: Many of my clients were in or around the shelter system in San Antonio, Texas at the time that they were approached by the people working with the Florida governor. They were lacking permanent shelter, food, a source of income. They had bounced around various churches and shelters. So they were as vulnerable as people can possibly be in the United States.
And they were approached with promises that were false — of things like work opportunities, schooling for their children and immigration assistance to induce their travel. And none of those things, as the world has seen, based on what happened in Martha’s Vineyard — none of those things had actually been secured for them and they were left to fend for themselves when they got there, in a place with which they were unfamiliar and in which they did not speak the language.
And so the people who recruited them acted with wanton disregard for these people, safety and security, once they had achieved their goal of dropping them on the Vineyard. And I think the most important thing to focus on here is the fraud and misrepresentation that was used to induce these people onto the flights.
SCOTT HARRIS: Jake, can you tell us about the specific legal, as well as ethical violations here that might be prosecuted?
JAKE LOVE: I can only speak to our civil case. Any ongoing criminal investigations are completely separate and we are not involved with those at all. But there are a number of different legal violations here. As we alleged in the complaint, there are state law tort claims based on the fraud and misrepresentation. Another thing that’s important to note here is that my clients were specifically targeted based on their race, based on their national origin, based on their immigration status.
And, you know, as we discussed in detail in the complaint, that is a textbook violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. So not only were they induced onto these planes by fraud and misrepresentation, but they were also discriminated against and targeted for disparate treatment based on their protected class, their immigration status, their national origin, their race, etc. So most of our claims in the complaint are based on those two things.
SCOTT HARRIS: What’s the objective of the lawsuit? What are we trying to get at here in terms of accountability for Gov. DeSantis and the Florida government?
JAKE LOVE: Yes, that’s a good question. So we’re seeking three very specific kinds of relief in the complaint. We’re seeking injunctive relief to end the transportation program, Gov. DeSantis’ transportation program. Declaratory relief stating that the scheme itself is unconstitutional. And monetary damages for the defendant’s tortious conduct.
But I think just more broadly, we are seeking to dissuade other governors and other state actors from engaging in this kind of fraudulent, manipulative, exploitative behavior.
And, you know, we’re hopeful that just by virtue of the fact that that we’re in court, that the defendants are now going to have to respond to us — they’re going to have to answer for this scheme — will make others think twice about about pulling similar stunts.
SCOTT HARRIS: I did want to ask you, Jake, what is it about the current political climate in the United States that would make Gov. DeSantis and these other governors who’ve pulled similar stunts think that exploiting and using immigrants asylum seekers as props in a trick here, a stunt, would be to their political advantage?
JAKE LOVE: That’s a great question. I think many of your listeners and myself wish that they had a good answer for it. But as you say, my clients were plucked out of the the shelter system in San Antonio and were thrown into a political firestorm. And they did not consent to that. Obviously, you know, they were hoping to travel to Martha’s Vineyard to find a better life for themselves, to find some kind of permanent shelter, to find work, to find schooling for their children.
And, you know, essentially, they’ve been subjected to a massive public backlash. There are lots of people with strong opinions about this. And, in fact, my organization was so worried about the public backlash to the situation that we filed the motion to proceed under pseudonyms, which means that my clients will be able to proceed anonymously.
And part of our argument in support of that motion was that there’s a reasonable expectation that my clients will be subjected to violence and threats of violence if they’re forced to move forward in this litigation with their names publicly known. And luckily, the judge granted that motion.
But, you know, part of the problem with this whole situation is that these people were vulnerable. They were preyed upon. And they were thrown into the middle of a very heated public debate in this country that they had no intention of being a part of.
For more information, visit Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights – Boston at lawyersforcivilrights.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Jake Love (13:11) and see more articles and opinion pieces in the Related Links section of this page.
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