About 50 people sent to island in 2022 in DeSantis’s ‘relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations’

A group of migrants who were sent to Martha’s Vineyard in 2022 by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, can sue the plane company that transported them, a federal judge has ruled.

In a ruling issued last Friday, the US district judge Allison Burroughs said that the migrants who were shuttled from Texas to the wealthy liberal island in Massachusetts can proceed with their legal claims against Vertol Systems, the plane company which was contracted by Florida to carry out the flights.

The 77-page ruling, which also named DeSantis, Florida’s transportation secretary, Jared Perdue, and other state officials as defendants, said that the Venezuelan migrants and the immigrant rights group Alianza Americas “sufficiently alleged” multiple claims including “civil rights conspiracy” and “civil conspiracy”.

  • ThrowawayPermanente
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    7 months ago

    Using foreigners as political props is one thing, but inconveniencing rich people is over the damn line and there will be consequences

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      It’s the migrants suing, not the residents of Martha’s Vineyard who did their best to treat the unannounced visitors well.

    • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I think its more that the martha’s vineyard people have a disproportionate amount of law backgrounds and have informed the migrants of their rights. I havent read anything suggesting anyone rich was inconvenienced.

      • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        7 months ago

        I mean, the island is disproportionately rich, and doesn’t have a lot of infrastructure, so flying migrants into a tiny local airport in an area filled with snow birds’ houses and summer tourists could be considered “incoveniencing the rich” simply by the island having to help the migrants.

        For example, there’s a single hospital on the island. 50 migrants who need to be checked out to make sure that they’re okay would be a strain on the medical infrastructure there if something else were to happen on the island.

        It’s why DeSantis chose Martha’s Vineyard. To piss off a bunch of wealthy liberals by having to deal with what he considers a bunch of “dirty migrants.” Little did he know, people in Massachusetts actually care about helping people like them.

    • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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      7 months ago

      Okay but then why not sue the people who are responsible, not the transportation company. Unless they specifically mistreated them in some way, they just did the job they were paid for.

      • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 months ago

        Transport company should know it’s illegal to transport these people over state lines like they did. Knowing laws like what you can and cannot transfer over state lines is what logistics companies are for.

        Source: I work in logistics. “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to haul that in this place” is not a valid defense.

        But yeah they should be able to sue Abbot and DeSantis and shit as well