Gov. DeSantis calls lawsuit against flights to Martha’s Vineyard 'political theater'

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' administration criticized the class-action lawsuit filed by a group of Venezuelan migrants that were flown to Martha’s Vineyard.

“It is opportunistic that activists would use illegal immigrants for political theater,” DeSantis Communications Director Taryn Feske said in a statement Tuesday.

“If these activists spent even a fraction of this time and effort at the border, perhaps some accountability would be brought to the Biden Administration’s reckless border policies that entice illegal immigrants to make dangerous and often lethal journeys through Central America and put their lives in the hands of cartels and Coyotes,” Feske continued.

Last week, DeSantis sent two planes full of undocumented migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, following up on his promise to send migrants to Democratic states. 

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by three migrants and immigration activists against DeSantis and Florida’s transportation secretary, claiming that they mislead migrants into boarding the flights through false promises. 

The attorneys in the case claim that the migrants were scouted outside of a migrant resource center in San Antonio and given brochures that were “highly misleading” and were “used to entice [their] clients to travel under the guide that [resettlement] support was available to them.”

According to pictures of the brochures shared online, the paper states that migrants who chose to go to Massachusetts would be given housing, economic support for 90 days, help to obtain work permits, and English lessons. 

In response to the lawsuit, DeSantis’s office sent a copy of the consent forms that the migrants signed before boarding the flights and claimed they were relocated on a “voluntary basis.”

“I agree to hold the benefactor or its designated representatives harmless of all liability arising out of or in any way relating to any injuries and damages that may occur during the agreed transport to locations outside of Texas until the final destination of Massachusetts,” the form states.