DeSantis news: Martha’s Vineyard migrant survived torture in Mexico as Delaware flight ‘scam’ revealed
Civil rights groups sue the governor, alleging asylum seekers were victims of a fraudulent scheme exploited for a political stunt
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A group of 48 mostly Venezeulan migrants transported from Texas in a surprise flight to Martha’s Vineyard last week have sued governor Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his administartion for allegedly orchestrating a “fraudulent and discriminatory” scheme.
The class action lawsuit comes as at least two law enforcement agencies are also investigating the governor’s plans for allegedly “luring” migrants with false promises of employment and financial assistance.
After the DeSantis administration dismissed reports of a second flight, this time to Delaware, migrants in San Antonio told the Miami-Herald how they were lured to scheduled flight to the state with false promises of employment and aid before it was abruptly canceled.
In the days after the flights, in interviews and in court documents, stories of the migrants and their harrowing journeys to the US-Mexico border have surfaced, including one man’s alleged torture and abuse at the hands of drug cartels.
Governor DeSantis and his aides have repeatedly defended sending migrants to Democratic-leading states and cities in protest of what they characterise as the president’s “open border” policy.
Six unanswered questions about Ron DeSantis’s migrant flights
Who is “Perla” and who convinced migrants to board the flights? Who made the brochures that promised them housing and aid? Could DeSantis face any charges, and will he book more flights? And what happens next for the migrants and their asylum claims?
So much remains unclear about the governor’s flight plans.
We answer what we can here:
Six unanswered questions about Ron DeSantis’s migrant flights
So much remains unclear about the governor’s plan, including how Florida funds are paying for it, who is working with the state to put migrants on planes, and what will happen next to migrants and their families seeking asylum in the US, Alex Woodward reports
DeSantis’s team lured hungry migrants with $10 McDonald’s gift cards, lawsuit says
A federal class action lawsuit filed by civil rights attorneys on behalf of three Venezuelan migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard from Texas said unnamed people working with Governor DeSantis identified and targeted migrants by “trolling streets outside of a migrant shelter” in San Antonio, “pretending to be good samaritans and offering humanitarian assistance”.
The lawsuit alleges they were lured to the flights with McDonald’s gift cards and other gift certificates.
Ron DeSantis’s team lured migrants with $10 McDonald’s gift cards, lawsuit says
Unnamed people working with Florida governor ‘trolled streets outside of a migrant shelter’
ICYMI: Ron DeSantis breaks fundraising record for governors
Ron DeSantis broke a fundraising record for a US gubernatorial campaign by raising $175.8m for his campaign committee and affiliated political action committee, according to a disclosure he filed last week.
His latest fundraising haul comes as he faces a federal class action lawsuit and potential investigations tied to his $12m state-funded plan to fly migrants out of Texas to Democratic-led states and cities.
Ron DeSantis breaks fundraising record for governors
The Florida governor has raised $175.8m for his re-election campaign
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