Florida's plans to continue migrant relocation flights
Published Date: 9/21/2022
Source: 10 Tampa Bay
Migrants who fled from Venezuela and were taken to Martha's Vineyard on two planes filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state on Tuesday. The 50 migrants made up of men, women and children were flown out on two planes to Massachusetts as part of what DeSantis calls the state's relocation program. According to the lawsuit, the migrants fled Venezuela because their lives were threatened by violence, insecurity, abuse of trust by government officials and instability. The lawsuit accuses multiple unnamed state agents of inflicting trauma on the migrants for their own political statement. "[They]...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," the lawsuit stated. Oren Sellstrom, the litigation director for Lawyers for Civil Rights that represents the plaintiffs, told 10 Tampa Bay, "It's never in anyone's best interest to be treated as an object and to be used for someone else's political purposes." While the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, Sellstrom said the core issue "is about stopping this sort of course of conduct on the part of the Florida governor and his accomplices going forward." MORE: https://bit.ly/3Bwblji ►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube ►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/ ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay