Transported migrants may be on a path to citizenship because of DeSantis flights

When nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants were left stranded in Martha’s Vineyard last month after Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis flew them to the island from Texas, they had no employment, housing or clear pathway to citizenship.

But this week, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the San Antonio area and previously opened an investigation into the flights, agreed to certify that the migrants had sufficiently cooperated with its investigation and are now eligible to apply for “U” visas, a kind of immigration status for victims of certain crimes that occur on U.S. soil.

The visas require that a law enforcement officer sign the application before it can be sent to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Rachel Self, a Martha’s Vineyard-based attorney who has been coordinating the migrants’ immigration cases, said Wednesday that she flew to San Antonio to obtain the required signatures from the sheriff’s office.

“I now hold in my hand certifications for every one of Perla's victims,” Self wrote in a statement, referring to Perla Huerta, the woman believed to be responsible for recruiting migrants in San Antonio on behalf of DeSantis.

Since the migrants arrived in Martha’s Vineyard, a destination known as a favorite vacation spot for wealthy liberals, lawyers and have been trying to coordinate housing, medical attention, and other assistance. They have also been providing pro bono legal aid to help the Venezuelans make the case they should be allowed to stay in the United States. The migrants were given temporary shelter in Cape Cod but many have since moved on.

But it was unclear until now how they would qualify for immigration status, as the asylum process can take years amid an overwhelming backlog.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, a Democrat, announced Sept. 20 that his office was opening a criminal investigation into the flights orchestrated by DeSantis, which he said had occurred under “false pretenses” and that the migrants had been “preyed upon.”

The qualifying criminal acts for the U visa, which was created by Congress in 2000, include kidnapping, false imprisonment and fraud in foreign labor contracting. Salazar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment clarifying which crimes are being investigated.

In her statement, Self said she had been working with Salazar to make each of the Venezuelans available for interviews with the office’s organized crime division and provide accounts, photos and videos to assist the investigation.

“No matter what your political beliefs are, these people are all crime victims,” she wrote.

DeSantis’ transports caused outrage across the country, with some Democrats urging the Justice Department to investigate the governor’s actions. The Treasury Department’s inspector general is looking into whether the Florida governor improperly used money connected to federal Covid-19 relief funds to pay for the flights.

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DeSantis has insisted that he didn’t commit any crimes and that the migrants signed forms consenting to board the private flights — and that his office was giving them “an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them,” according to a statement released last month.

But lawyers for the migrants have said that those transported to Martha’s Vineyard were told they were going to Boston and only discovered midair they would be landing on a small island instead of a major urban center.

According to a class action filed by the Boston-based group Lawyers for Civil Rights, “the chartered airplanes dropped [the migrants] off on Martha’s Vineyard in the evening with no food, water or shelter,” where no one knew they were coming. The lawsuit is seeking damages and an injunction on any future flights of the same nature.

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

The U visa process, however, won’t be easy or quick, either. According to Department of Homeland Security data, more than 285,000 U visa petitions are pending as of fiscal year 2021, and Congress has capped the visas at 10,000 per year. Once the visas are approved, the migrants must wait three years to apply for a green card and five more years for citizenship.

But once the Venezuelans submit their applications, they will likely be allowed to work and protected from deportation. Last year, the federal appellate court that covers Massachusetts ruled that a Honduran man could not be removed from the country while his U visa application was pending.

“Ironically by choosing to transport the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard […], all of these victims are now protected from removal while their U visa application is pending due to the Granados Benitez case,” Self wrote in her statement. “These certifications will ensure that the migrants can continue to help our law enforcement officials, and that they will be able to process and heal from the incredibly traumatic experiences they have suffered as a result of the cruel, heartless acts committed against them.”