BOSTON (Legal Newsline) — Migrants from Venezuela seeking asylum in the U.S. are claiming Florida Governor Ron Desantis and others illegally lured them from a Texas shelter and transported them to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Alianza Americas, Yanet Dow, Pablo Doe and Jesus Doe on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, filed a complaint Sept. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Desantis, Florida Transportation Department Secretary Jared W. Perdue and others alleging violation of the Supremacy Clause, fraud, false imprisonment and other claims.
According to their complaint, the plaintiffs are immigrants from Venezuela who after crossing the U.S. border in September immediately surrendered to federal immigration officials to seek asylum in the U.S. They allege that DeSantis and the other defendants executed a fraudulent and illegal scheme that involved "trolling" the streets outside a migrant shelter in Texas and other locations and pretending to offer humanitarian assistance.
The plaintiffs further allege the defendants "lured" them with $10 McDonalds gift cards and making false promises of housing, employment and educational opportunities by paying $615,000 for private chartered planes to fly them to Boston or Washington, D.C., while dropping them off on Martha's Vineyard without food and shelter. They claim the defendants did not make anyone in Massachusetts aware that they were coming and then disappeared.
The plaintiffs also claim they pursued the proper channels for lawful immigration status and were fleeing crime, civil unrest, poor infrastructure, kidnapping and wrongful detentions in Venezuela.
The plaintiffs seek monetary relief, trial by jury and all other just relief. They are represented by Oren Sellstrom, Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, Jacob Love and Mirian Albert of Lawyers For Civil Rights in Boston.
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts case number 1:22-CV-11550-ADB