Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may sue charter flight company

BOSTON (AP) – Lawyers representing migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard nearly two years ago by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can sue the charter flight company that transported them to an island off the coast of Massachusetts, according to a Monday ruling by a federal judge in Boston.

50 Venezuelans were sent to Martha’s Vineyard from San Antonio, Texas and were promised jobs and housing.

Migrants can file a lawsuit against Vertol Systems Co., according to Monday’s ruling. based in Florida, which agreed to transport them to the island for a whole lot of 1000’s of dollars.

An email to the company in search of comment after the afternoon verdict was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit also names DeSantis, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination before resigning in January.

The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts said in its ruling that it had no jurisdiction over DeSantis within the case.

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However, the court found that the facts of the case “on the whole support the conclusion that Vertol and the other Defendants specifically targeted Plaintiffs because they were immigrants from Latin America.”

The DeSantis administration noted that the judges’ order dismissed the defendants from the state.

“As we have always emphasized, the flights were conducted lawfully and with the approval of the Florida Legislature,” Julia Friedland, DeSantis’ deputy press secretary, said in an announcement. “We look forward to another illegal flight to relocate Florida immigrants and are pleased to bring national attention to the crisis at the southern border.”

The Court also found that “unlike ICE agents lawfully enforcing the nation’s immigration laws… the Court sees no legitimate purpose in rounding up particularly vulnerable people under false pretenses and publicly engaging them in a divisive national debate.”

Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights, called the 77-page ruling a significant victory within the Martha’s Vineyard case.

In an announcement, he said the ruling sends a signal that non-public corporations will be held accountable for helping rogue state actors violate the rights of vulnerable immigrants through what he describes as illegal and fraudulent schemes.