Ron Desantis is accused of having deceived Venezuelan migrants by sending them to a posh island in the northeast of the United States, and of instrumentalizing the theme of immigration for political purposes.
Le Monde with AP and AFP
Venezuelan migrants continued, Tuesday, September 20, the Republican Governor of Florida Ron Desantis for having engaged in a “fraudulent and discriminatory ploy” to relocate them by transporting them by plane to the Cuppée island of Martha’s Vineyard, in the northeast of the United States.
This complaint filed with the Federal Court of Boston (Massachusetts) by the group of associations for defense of the rights of migrants Alianza Americas accuses Ron Desantis, his lost transport manager Jared lost as well as several unnamed people to have “bait The complainants by exploiting their most fundamental needs “and making” false promises “of jobs and housing. The migrants would also have been thrown through McDonald’s vouchers.
According to the complaint, the accused “manipulated [migrants], deprived them of their dignity (…) in order to pursue an illegal objective and political intentions”.
“political pawn”
The group of around fifty Venezuelan migrants, including children, had arrived on Wednesday September 14 by plane on the island of Martha’s Vineyard – resort for the wealthy who welcomed the Kennedy, the Clinton or the Obama – Before being temporarily welcomed at a military base not far from there.
Ron Desantis had claimed the sending of these migrants, thus joining a movement launched by the republican governors of Texas and Arizona aimed at sending migrants to the Democratic cities of the North and East of the country, in A very political gesture intended for their voters.
“No human being should be used as a political pawn,” said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights, who asks the judge to authorize the constitution of collective action in this file.
The complaint filed Tuesday also requests to prohibit the opposing parties from using “fraud and erroneous representations” to “lead migrants to go to another State”, and to grant them damages.
Ron Desantis defended his decision to send the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, saying that their decisions were entirely voluntary, and that they were in a appalling state when Florida decided to act.
explosive subject
Tuesday was also marked by the confusion around the possible arrival of a plane transporting migrants in a similar way from Texas to the State of Delaware, not far from Washington, where Joe Biden likes to pass his weekends. Asked on Tuesday on the speculations that Desantis could send migrants to his original state, the American president said: “He should come and visit him. We have a beautiful coast.”
But at the start of the evening, this plane which was to land at the tiny Georgetown airport had still not arrived and had on the contrary changed trajectory to go to Nashville then to New Jersey, according to flight tracking sites. Civil society organizations had made the trip to accommodate migrants, with translators.
Immigration policy, an explosive subject in the United States, is even more than a few weeks of mid-term elections with heavy issues, the Republicans accusing Joe Biden of having transformed into a colander the border with the Mexico.