Immigration

Illegal migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard on ‘voluntary basis’ and ‘signed wavers’ file lawsuit against DeSantis, others

Published

4 months ago

September 21, 2022

A group of illegal immigrants that were flown to Martha’s Vineyard last week have come together to file a federal class-action complaint against Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, and others on Tuesday.

The plaintiffs claim they were duped into taking the flight under false pretenses and suffered harm that “at a minimum exceeds $75,000.” The Washington Examiner reports that “DeSantis’s office shrugged off the suit as ‘opportunistic’ and countered that the flights to Martha’s Vineyard were done on a ‘voluntary basis’ to give ‘homeless, hungry, and abandoned’ immigrants a ‘fresh start in a sanctuary state.”

The class-action complaint says, “Defendants and their unidentified accomplices designed and executed a premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme centered on exploiting this vulnerability for the sole purpose of advancing their own personal, financial and political interests.”

“Destitute, stranded, and immensely vulnerable, the individual Plaintiffs and class members were faced with an uncertain situation in an unfamiliar location. They were left in the dark, with nothing, on a tarmac on an island,” the suit continues.

In a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner, DeSantis’ office wrote:

“It is opportunistic that activists would use illegal immigrants for political theater. 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.”

“It was disappointing that Martha’s Vineyard called in the Massachusetts National Guard to bus them away from the island within 48 hours,” the statement added.

DeSantis has also insisted the traveling migrants were given a packet of information and signed consent forms. “Millions of people since Biden has been president illegally coming across the southern border. Did they freak out about that? No,” DeSantis told Fox News’s Sean Hannity. “It’s only when 50 get put into Martha’s Vineyard, which wasn’t saying they didn’t want this. … They said they were a sanctuary jurisdiction.”

Immigration

20 states suing Biden administration over migrant parole program

Published

3 days ago

January 25, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

President Joe Biden has expanded a humanitarian parole program leading to a significant increase of migrants entering the United States illegally each month. As a result, 20 states have geared up to sue the Biden administration.

Tuesday, 20 Republican states and conservative legal group America First Legal, announced their plans to sue the White House over the legality of the administration’s parole program. The program “allows up to 30,000 migrants from Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela into the homeland each month” reports Foreign Desk News.

Reports shoot the lawsuit was filed by Texas, the America First Legal and the other states in the Southern District of Texas in hopes to block the parole program.

Foreign Desk News reports of the history:

In October, the administration announced the program for Venezuelans, allowing a limited number to fly directly into the U.S. as long as they had not entered illegally, had a sponsor already, and passed certain checks. In early January, President Biden announced that the program would expand to include Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Cubans, allowing up to 30,000 a month into the U.S.

The program also allows migrants to receive work permits and a two-year authorization to live in the U.S. and was announced alongside an expansion of Title 42 expulsions to include those nationalities.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue that the program is unlawful given the “exceptionally limited” parole power the federal government has, adding that they have up to 360,000 migrants that could be allowed into the homeland a year.

The suit’s focus is on the limits placed on parole by Congress, saying that the authority is to be used on a “case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

“Every state in America, especially border states like Texas, is being crushed by the impacts of illegal immigration,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“The Biden open borders agenda has created a humanitarian crisis that is increasing crime and violence in our streets, overwhelming local communities, and worsening the opioid crisis. This unlawful amnesty program, which will invite hundreds of thousands of aliens into the U.S. every year, will only make this immigration crisis drastically worse.”