www.miamiherald.com Open in urlscan Pro
23.75.234.119  Public Scan

Form analysis
3 forms found in the DOM

/search/

<form id="search-icon" action="/search/" role="search" class="search row h-phone"><label for="flag-search-input"><svg width="17" height="17" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
      <path
        d="m16.768 14.699-3.31-3.31a.796.796 0 0 0-.565-.233h-.541a6.872 6.872 0 0 0 1.46-4.25A6.905 6.905 0 0 0 6.907 0 6.905 6.905 0 0 0 0 6.906a6.905 6.905 0 0 0 6.906 6.907 6.872 6.872 0 0 0 4.25-1.461v.54c0 .213.083.416.233.565l3.31 3.31a.794.794 0 0 0 1.126 0l.94-.94a.8.8 0 0 0 .003-1.128Zm-9.862-3.543c-2.347 0-4.25-1.899-4.25-4.25 0-2.347 1.9-4.25 4.25-4.25 2.348 0 4.25 1.9 4.25 4.25 0 2.348-1.899 4.25-4.25 4.25Z">
      </path>
    </svg></label> <input id="flag-search-input" type="text" name="q" placeholder=" " aria-label="Search Kansas City Star" tabindex="0" class="search-field"></form>

/search/

<form tabindex="-1" action="/search/" role="search" class="site-search-id flex"><input id="nav-menu-search-bar" type="text" name="q" placeholder="Search" aria-label="Search Miami Herald" tabindex="0"> <button type="submit" aria-label="Search"
    tabindex="-1"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 512">
      <path
        d="M190.5 66.9l22.2-22.2c9.4-9.4 24.6-9.4 33.9 0L441 239c9.4 9.4 9.4 24.6 0 33.9L246.6 467.3c-9.4 9.4-24.6 9.4-33.9 0l-22.2-22.2c-9.5-9.5-9.3-25 .4-34.3L311.4 296H24c-13.3 0-24-10.7-24-24v-32c0-13.3 10.7-24 24-24h287.4L190.9 101.2c-9.8-9.3-10-24.8-.4-34.3z">
      </path>
    </svg></button></form>

<form class="vjs-sharing__link"><textarea cols="30" aria-label="Video embed code" class="overlay-embed-share"></textarea>
  <div class="vjs-input__wrapper"><input type="text" readonly="readonly" aria-label="Video share link" class="mi-share-link"></div> <button type="button">COPY LINK</button>
</form>

Text Content

LOG IN SUBSCRIBE


VENEZUELANS FLOWN TO MARTHA’S VINEYARD SUE DESANTIS, FLORIDA | MIAMI HERALD

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Today's eEdition

80°F 88° 78°
News
Sports
Business
Politics
Opinion
•
Food & Drink
Environment
Personal Finance
Public Notices
Obituaries
Acceso USA
Close navigation panel SECTIONS
Search

Home
Customer Service
About Us
Account Management
Archives
Contact Us
Customer Service
Subscribe
Manage Print Subscription
Advertise
Advertise with Us
Media Kit
Stay Connected
Mobile Apps & eReaders
Newsletters
RSS Feeds
Social Media
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
eEdition

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Condo Collapse
Investigations
Podcast
Personal Stories
Detour Travel
News
Local & State News
Miami-Dade
Broward
South Florida
Florida Keys
Florida
Crime
Curious305
Coronavirus
Education
Environment
Health Care
Immigration
Recalls
Weather
Nation & World
United States
Cuba
Haiti
Venezuela
Americas
Sports
Sports
Professional
Miami Dolphins
Miami Heat
Miami Marlins
Florida Panthers
Inter Miami
College
University of Miami
Florida International
University of Florida
Florida State University
Sports Columns
Barry Jackson
Greg Cote
Michelle Kaufman
More Sports
High School Sports
Wrestling & MMA
Tennis
Golf
Politics
Florida Politics
Naked Politics
Elections
Political News
Mic Check Miami
Business
Business
Real Estate News
Tourism & Cruises
Tech in Miami
Startup Pitch Competition
Business Monday
Personal Finance
Living & Entertainment
Miami Restaurants
La Ventanita Podcast
Performing Arts
Visual Arts
Celebrities
Entertainment
Dave Barry
Flashback Miami
Health & Fitness
Comics
Games & Puzzles
Horoscopes
Living
Detour
Opinion
All Opinion
Editorials
Op-Ed
Letters to the Editor
Submit a Letter
Meet the Editorial Board
Columnists
Andres Oppenheimer
Leonard Pitts Jr.
Fabiola Santiago
Carl Hiaasen
Obituaries
Obituaries
Obituaries in the News
Place an Obituary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sports Betting
All Sports Betting
BetMGM Bonus Code
FanDuel Promo Code
Caesars Sportsbook Promo Code
DraftKings Promo Code
Ohio Sports Betting Apps
BetMGM Ohio Bonus Code
Caesars Sportsbook Ohio Promo Code
DraftKings New York Promo Code
FanDuel New York Promo Code
BetMGM New York Bonus Code
Caesars Sportsbook New York Promo Code
NY Sportsbook Promos
Best Online Casinos
Real Money Online Casinos
New Jersey Online Casinos
Michigan Online Casinos
BetMGM Casino
WynnBet Casino

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Partner Content
Product Reviews
Health and Wellness
Software and Business
Reviews
Shopping

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sponsored Content
Paid Content by BrandPoint
Public Notices Classifieds Jobs


IMMIGRATION


IN LAWSUIT, MIGRANTS SAY DESANTIS FLIGHTS ‘CRUELTY AKIN TO WHAT THEY FLED IN’
VENEZUELA

By Bianca Padró Ocasio and

Lawrence Mower

Updated September 20, 2022 7:58 PM
 * 
 * 
 * 
 *  * 
    * 
    * 
    * 
   
   ORDER REPRINT →

VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS DEPART FROM MARTHA'S VINEYARD

A group of 48 Venezuelan migrants leaves St. Andrews Episcopal Church on Friday,
Sept. 16, 2022, in Edgartown, Mass., on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. The
group was left stranded after being flown to the island from Texas earlier this
week. By Matias J. Ocner
Up Next

×
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Loaded: 0%

0:00
Pause
Unmute

Captions
 * captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
 * captions off, selected

Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Fullscreen

This is a modal window.



Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque
Font Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge
StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional
Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall
Caps
Reset restore all settings to the default valuesDone
Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

UP NEXT:





Venezuelan migrants depart from Martha's Vineyard

SHARE

COPY LINK

A group of 48 Venezuelan migrants leaves St. Andrews Episcopal Church on Friday,
Sept. 16, 2022, in Edgartown, Mass., on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. The
group was left stranded after being flown to the island from Texas earlier this
week. By Matias J. Ocner



Three of the nearly 50 migrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard last week by
the state of Florida are suing Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials,
alleging they were duped into traveling to an island in the northeast as part of
a scheme to benefit the governor’s political career.

The suit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, alleges that DeSantis,
Florida’s Transportation Department secretary and others tricked migrants into
leaving Texas by offering them McDonald’s gift cards and other items to board
the flights, and by promising them assistance and employment. The lawsuit names
five other people as defendants, including a man and woman believed by attorneys
to have recruited migrants in San Antonio to board the planes.

The plaintiffs include three anonymous Venezuelan migrants and Alianza Americas,
a transnational organization that advocates on behalf of immigrants’ rights.



“These immigrants, who are pursuing the proper channels for lawful immigration
status in the United States, experienced cruelty akin to what they fled in their
home country,” the lawsuit alleges.

The three migrants, who asked the court Tuesday for permission to use
pseudonyms, say they suffered emotionally from the scheme. One woman claimed she
felt helpless and started crying when they landed in Martha’s Vineyard. She says
she and her 11-year-old son have needed mental health support — she has suffered
from lack of sleep and vertigo as a result.



READ THE LAWSUIT HERE

Another said he was promised free English classes, legal assistance and food if
he boarded the flight. A third said he was asked to sign a document that was not
completely translated into Spanish — and allegedly contained vital information
about liability and transport to Massachusetts — in order to receive a $10
McDonald’s gift card.

All three said that if they had known the offer was part of “a political ploy
that would thrust them into the national spotlight,” none would have taken the
flight.



“Defendants manipulated them, stripped them of their dignity, deprived them of
their liberty, bodily autonomy, due process, and equal protection under law, and
impermissibly interfered with the Federal Government’s exclusive control over
immigration in furtherance of an unlawful goal and a personal political agenda,”
the suit reads.


LAWSUIT CLAIMS MIGRANTS WERE ‘INTENTIONALLY SEQUESTERED’

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about
the lawsuit. A spokesperson for FDOT did not return a request for comment,
either.

But in a statement shared with other reporters, state communications director
Taryn Fenske said it was “opportunistic that activists would use illegal
immigrants for political theater.”



She also attached a form titled “OFFICIAL CONSENT TO TRANSPORT” that was
allegedly signed by migrants being transported to Martha’s Vineyard. In Spanish,
the form says the person who signs is consenting “voluntarily to be transported
by the benefactor and its representatives to places outside of the state of
Texas to sanctuary states.”



DeSantis, who is running for reelection and viewed as a potential presidential
candidate in 2024, has defended the program to move migrants across the country,
which he has described as a protest against President Joe Biden’s immigration
policies. Other Republican governors, in Texas and Arizona, have bused migrants
to cities like New York and Washington.



On Monday, DeSantis said the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard “were provided
an ability to be in the most posh sanctuary jurisdiction, maybe in the world.”

“They were hungry, homeless. They had no opportunity at all,” DeSantis said of
their situation in San Antonio.

The lawsuit alleges that the five unnamed defendants, which include alleged
recruiters who identified themselves to migrants as “Perla” and “Emanuel,” made
copies of the migrants’ immigration paperwork “so they could confirm that their
immigration status met the ultimate ends of their scheme.” Meanwhile, migrants
were put up in hotel rooms for days until enough people had agreed to board the
planes.



The lawsuit further claims that the defendants “intentionally sequestered the
class members” to prevent them from discussing the details of the trip with any
“true Good Samaritans” and so that they wouldn’t change their minds while they
waited.

The five unnamed defendants allegedly gave migrants’ phone numbers to call if
they had any questions about the trip. But the lawsuit says the group was
“suddenly nowhere to be found and unreachable by phone” when the planes landed
in Massachusetts.

The migrants are asking District Judge Allison D. Burroughs to declare that the
state violated the U.S. Constitution and broke federal and state laws by
tricking them and flying them across state lines. They are also asking for
compensatory, emotional distress, and punitive damages to the migrants and
attorneys’ fees.



Oren Sellstrom, the litigation director for Lawyers for Civil Rights, the
organization that filed the lawsuit, said the stories from migrants were
“heartbreaking.”

“The conduct by the Florida governor is not only morally repugnant but illegal
under the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes as well,” Sellstrom told the
Miami Herald. “The practice of fraudulently inducing vulnerable immigrants to
board planes and cross state lines through false promises violates core
constitutional provisions including deprivation of liberty and due process.”


UNANSWERED QUESTIONS FROM DESANTIS, FDOT

Last week, DeSantis denied that the people sent to Martha’s Vineyard had been
tricked. The private contractor hired by the Florida Department of
Transportation to carry out the program told them where they were going, he
said.



“The folks that are contracted [for the program], not only do the people give
them a release form to sign, they actually give them a packet, and in that
packet included a map of Martha’s Vineyard,” he said Friday. “So it was obvious
that that’s where they were going.”

DeSantis also pledged to spend “every penny” of the $12 million allocated in the
state budget to move migrants to other parts of the country.

But his administration has released almost no details about the program or last
week’s flights.



The state has made two payments worth a combined $1.56 million to a Destin-based
aviation vendor called Vertol Systems Company, but the Department of
Transportation has not released the contract with the company.

His spokespeople have left a number of questions unanswered about the program
from news outlets, including the Herald/Times.

State lawmakers, including Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, have also posed
questions to the state about whether the spending complies with the 2022 state
law creating the program. The law authorized $12 million — interest earned from
federal pandemic aid dollars — to be spent “to facilitate the transport of
unauthorized aliens from this state.”



The migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard last week were in Texas and had not set
foot in Florida. DeSantis, who has spent the last year complaining about the
threat of migrants to Floridians, said on Friday that he couldn’t find any in
the state to deport.

Instead, he said the program was pivoting to “profile” migrants in other states
who say they want to come to Florida.

“What we’re trying to do is profile, ‘OK, who do you think is going to try to
get to Florida? And if they get in a car with two other people, there’s no way
we’re going to be able to detect that. So you’re trying to identify who’s most
likely to come.”



Miami Herald staff writer Nick Nehamas and Herald/Times staff writer Mary Ellen
Klas contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 20, 2022 5:25 PM.




BIANCA PADRÓ OCASIO

twitter email phone 305-376-2649
Bianca Padró Ocasio is a political writer for the Miami Herald. She has been a
Florida journalist for four years, covering everything from crime and courts to
hurricanes and politics.




TRENDING STORIES


IN LAWSUIT, MIGRANTS SAY DESANTIS FLIGHTS ‘CRUELTY AKIN TO WHAT THEY FLED IN’
VENEZUELA

Updated September 20, 2022 7:58 PM


TEXAS SHERIFF WILL INVESTIGATE FLORIDA FLYING VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS TO MARTHA’S
VINEYARD

Updated September 20, 2022 5:47 AM


A METEOROID CRASHED INTO MARS, AND NASA RECORDED THE ODD SOUND IT MADE. HAVE A
LISTEN

Updated September 20, 2022 12:12 PM


SEALED CAVE OF ARTIFACTS FROM ERA OF KING RAMESES II FOUND BY ACCIDENT IN ISRAEL
PARK

Updated September 20, 2022 12:14 PM



HURRICANE FIONA NOW A CAT 4, TROPICAL STORM GASTON FORMS, A DEPRESSION COULD
FOLLOW

Updated September 21, 2022 7:13 AM

GET UNLIMITED DIGITAL ACCESS

#READLOCAL

Subscribe now for just $2 for 2 months.

CLAIM OFFER


EDITORIALS


TEXAS SHERIFF’S PROBE OF DESANTIS’ HEARTLESS VINEYARD STUNT A LONG SHOT, BUT
COULD UNEARTH ANSWERS | EDITORIAL

Updated September 21, 2022 5:31 AM


POLITICS


WERE MIGRANTS SENT TO MARTHA’S VINEYARD GIVEN ‘FAKE ADDRESSES’ BY DHS? AGENCY
RESPONDS

Updated September 20, 2022 8:15 PM


IMMIGRATION


DESPITE RUMORS, NO SIGN OF DESANTIS SENDING MIGRANT PLANE FROM TEXAS TO DELAWARE

Updated September 20, 2022 7:33 PM
Video media Created with Sketch.


FABIOLA SANTIAGO


PERLA, PLEASE, COME OUT OF THE CLOSET AND DELIVER US FROM DESANTIS. SIGNED:
FLORIDA | OPINION

Updated September 20, 2022 7:07 PM


IMMIGRATION


TEXAS SHERIFF WILL INVESTIGATE FLORIDA FLYING VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS TO MARTHA’S
VINEYARD

Updated September 20, 2022 5:47 AM


FLORIDA POLITICS


DESANTIS ‘EXCEEDED AUTHORITY’ IN FLYING MIGRANTS FROM TEXAS, DEMOCRATIC
LAWMAKERS SAY

Updated September 19, 2022 4:16 PM


TAKE US WITH YOU

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.


Miami Herald App
View Newsletters


SUBSCRIPTIONS

Start a Subscription Customer Service eEdition Vacation Hold Pay Your Bill

LEARN MORE

About Us Contact Us Newsletters Archives Reviews Sports Betting Personal Finance

ADVERTISING

Place a Classified Media Kit Public Notices Statement of Ownership
Copyright Commenting Policy Privacy Policy Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Terms of Service