DeSantis is sued in Florida for sending immigrants to Massachusetts

the governor of Floridathe republican Ron DeSantiswas sued in a Florida court for sending Venezuelan immigrants from Texas to an island in Massachusetts, a state where he is already facing a lawsuit for the same reason.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and immigrant advocacy organizations such as the Florida Immigration Coalition reported that the lawsuit was filed in the federal courts in Miami this Thursday against the governor and Florida Secretary of Transportation, Jared W. Perdue.

The plaintiffs maintain that the Florida immigrant relocation program, endowed with 12 million dollars and under which almost 50 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, were transferred from San Antonio (Texas) to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts, last September, is unconstitutional.

Florida is “usurping the exclusive role of the federal government in regulating and enforcing immigration law,” they allege.

The lawsuit also argues that the program is discriminatory and constitutes a pattern of “state-sponsored harassment of immigrants based on race, color, and national origin.”

“The Constitution is clear: The sole and exclusive power to regulate immigration policy is vested in the federal government, not the states,” said Paul Chavez, lead supervising attorney for the Immigrant Justice Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, in a release.

“Governor DeSantis and the State of Florida’s program to use taxpayer funds for the ‘relocation’ of ‘unauthorized aliens’” is a blatant and illegal attempt to harass immigrants at the state level,” he stressed.

When the sending of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard became known and the controversy broke out, DeSantis defended his decision as a response to the immigration policy of the Government of President Joseph Biden, which, in his opinion, leaves the US borders “open ” to foreigners without permission to settle in the country.

He also said that immigrants caught in Texas after applying for political asylum at the border traveled to Martha’s Vineyard voluntarily, but those who boarded the flight paid for by Florida told a Massachusetts court that they had been deceived.

So far there has only been one relocation flight, at a cost of more than $1.5 million, but DeSantis has promised to spend the $12 million that the Florida Congress appropriated for that program.

A class action lawsuit filed by a civil rights organization in federal court in Massachusetts accuses DeSantis and other Florida officials of violating the rights of immigrants by “false promises and misrepresentations” to get them to board the flights.

The US Treasury Department watchdog is investigating whether the governor misused money related to federal covid-19 relief to pay for flights.

In Texas, a sheriff opened an investigation into the flight from San Antonio and in Florida, Democratic state Sen. Jason Pizzo filed a lawsuit to stop DeSantis from using more money on immigrant resettlement, but it was dismissed on technical grounds.

Despite this controversy and others due to his ultra-conservative agenda, Florida voters gave DeSantis four more years in office in the midterm elections held in November.

Polls leading up to the polls showed half of the electorate agreed with the relocation of immigrants to Democratic-dominated states and cities pursued by DeSantis’s program.

The governor has not yet revealed whether he will run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, something analysts are assuming given several indications, including a plan to change a state law that, if approved, will allow him to avoid having to resign. to the governorship while fighting to be the candidate for the White House.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.