It wasn’t just that fascistic Florida governor Ron DeSantis sadistically used vulnerable children and adults as human props, transporting them from Texas (possibly with the aid of federal agents) to Massachusetts to own the libs. Contrary to false narratives from the right, migrants were overwhelmingly welcomed by the Martha’s Vineyard community.
The Popular Information newsletter now reports that it has evidence proving migrants were lied to in order to persuade them to board DeSantis’ flights out of Texas. Judd Legum writes migrants were given a brochure “crudely” made to look like a government document, and that falsely claimed they were eligible for all sorts of benefits. While this is true for certain refugees, this isn’t the case here.
“It was provided to Popular Information by Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), a Boston-based legal organization that represents 30 of the migrants,” Legum reports. That organization is now calling on the Massachusetts attorney general and the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts to open criminal investigations into the political stunt.
RELATED STORY: Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are taking a page straight out of the White Citizens Council playbook
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In similarly worded letters, LCR writes their clients “were induced to board airplanes and cross state lines under false pretenses,” with cruel, false promises “of work opportunities” and “immigration assistance.” Numerous reports have cited a woman known only as “Perla” as one of the perpetrators of this fraud. LCR also said that their clients had been told they were going to Boston, but only when they were in the air were they informed they were actually going to Martha’s Vineyard.
DeSantis, by the way, already has a history of misleading the public on the issue of immigration, falsely linking migrants arrested as part of a series of local law enforcement actions to fentanyl. In reality, they were arrested for traffic violations (including driving too slowly), not drug charges.
“Once the planes landed, those who had induced our clients to travel under these false pretenses disappeared, leaving our clients to learn that the offers of assistance had all been a ruse to exploit them for political purposes,” LCR told Attorney General Maura Healey in the letter. “This conduct deprived our clients of their liberty by deception.” LCR said that migrants were also flown far from required appointments.
This is intentional—if a migrant misses a required date with federal officials or the immigration court, this can be detrimental to their case.
“These actions were coordinated and orchestrated,” LCR continued in the letter to Healey. “Many of our clients were put up in hotels—paid for by those making the false representations—until flights could be coordinated and there were enough people to fill the planes. This type of conspiracy to deprive our clients of their liberty and civil rights must be thoroughly investigated for violations of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act and all other applicable criminal laws.”
“We were heartened to see your public statements that you will be consulting with federal authorities in other localities that have seen similar conduct,” LCR said in the letter to U.S. attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins. “As detailed above, these actions constitute concerted interference by State actors in federal immigration enforcement. That demands a strong federal response.”
Daily Kos’ Laura Clawson last week noted how busing by DeSantis and Texas’ Greg Abbott mirrors the despicable “reverse freedom rides” of the early 1960s, “when segregationist politicians in Arkansas and other southern states bused Black families north to make a political point.” She wrote, “hundreds of Black people, mostly from Arkansas and Louisiana, were misled or, in some cases, coerced onto buses north, ending up in states from California to New Hampshire.” But most were intentionally sent to Hyannis, Massachusetts, in order to “troll” the Kennedys.
The conservatives of today are no different, and are openly irritated that the Martha’s Vineyard community hasn’t treated migrants with the same contempt they hold in their little shriveled hearts. That’s why Ted Cruz has been on the Fox propaganda network coming up with the most ridiculous of claims.
While WBUR reports that while Martha’s Vineyard officials “had no warning the Venezuelans were coming,” “the community mobilized to support them, and many of the Venezuelans said they’ve felt welcomed by the people of Martha’s Vineyard.” That officials were not informed beforehand is also intentional. Illinois officials have previously described Abbott’s office as “wholly uncooperative” in his busing of migrants to the state.
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