According to recent reports, a federal judge ruled that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been dropped from a lawsuit relating to his flying of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard in 2022. DeSantis began reallocating migrants to progressive areas of the country to draw attention to the Biden administration’s incompetence surrounding the border crisis.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs cleared Gov. DeSantis and other past and present staff members from the lawsuit due to “insufficient facts” brought forward in the case. According to Burroughs, the court could not determine “personal jurisdiction” in the case.
“The court cannot ascertain what actions were undertaken by whom and therefore cannot determine which, if any, of the individual defendants transacted business or caused injury here, leaving it no choice but to find that, at least on this record, personal jurisdiction has not been established,” she wrote.
However, the judge’s ruling has not shielded Vertol, the Florida company that coordinated the migrant flights after being granted a $1.5 million contract, from future litigation. The company failed to have several charges dismissed as Burroughs determined there was enough evidence to support accusations of due process violations, unlawful seizure, false imprisonment, inflicting emotional distress, and other charges.
“Unlike ICE agents legitimately enforcing the country’s immigration laws, the court sees no legitimate purpose for rounding up highly vulnerable individuals on false pretenses and publicly injecting them into a divisive national debate,” the judge wrote. “Treating vulnerable individuals like Plaintiffs in this way…is nothing short of extreme, outrageous, uncivilized, intolerable, and stunning.”
Furthermore, Judge Burroughs stated in her ruling that the case could remain in Massachusetts following requests to move it to Florida. Despite DeSantis being dropped from the case, the legal teams representing the illegal immigrants suggested they will continue to push for Vertol to be “held accountable.”
“Vertol contracted with the State of Florida to carry out the flights and was responsible for transporting the migrants to Massachusetts,” Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston stated. “The favorable ruling is a major victory in the Martha’s Vineyard Case, and it sends a crucial message: private companies can — and will — be held accountable for helping rogue state actors violate rights of vulnerable immigrants through illegal and fraudulent schemes.” The firm added, “To be clear: the Martha’s Vineyard migrants will not stop here.”
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Matha’s Vineyard has a reputation for being a vacation retreat for the liberal elite, where former President Barrack Obama purchased a multimillion-dollar property in 2019. Therefore, sending a plane full of illegal immigrants to the island would, in theory, get the attention of the left.
Gov. DeSantis had suggested either Delaware or Martha’s Vineyard as possible locations to relocate migrants. However, his office noted that they could also be sent “to other ‘progressive’ states whose governors endorse blatant violations of federal immigration law.”
“As we’ve always stated, the flights were conducted lawfully and authorized by the Florida legislature,” according to a spokesperson on behalf of DeSantis. “We look forward to Florida’s next illegal immigration relocation flight, and we are glad to bring national attention to the crisis at the southern border.”