Because of the actions taken by Florida officials in September 2022, some of the 49 migrants flown from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard are on the path to securing legal status.
The migrants who were sent to Massachusetts by Florida officials as part of a political stunt received “bona fide determinations” in their U visa petition this week, a status that allows them some freedoms — including the ability to legally work and the protection against deportation — until their visa becomes available.
The visa the Martha’s Vineyard arrivals applied for is a special type provided to victims of certain crimes who provide useful information to investigators. In this case, the migrants worked with a Texas sheriff after the new arrivals said Florida officials and others duped them into getting onto two chartered planes in San Antonio with false promises of cash payments and job opportunities.
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Three of the original group of 49 migrants have received the designation so far, said immigration attorney Rachel M. Self, who has been assisting the migrants since 2022. But the early determinations indicate more will be issued, since the migrants were all caught up in the same scheme, she said.
Issuing bona fide determinations for U visa applicants is a relatively new process, and was implemented by Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2021.
“These determinations are one step closer to justice,” Self said. “[They] further underscore that anyone who knows all the facts . . . simply cannot ignore the criminality of the actors.”
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — who was weighing a 2024 presidential run at the time — immediately took credit for the 2022 flights, which were born out of the state’s $12 million state-funded migrant relocation program.
A week after the stunt, the Bexar County sheriff in San Antonio opened an investigation into whether the migrants were “lured . . . under false pretenses” from a Migrant Resource Center in San Antonio and brought — after a brief stop in Florida — to Martha’s Vineyard, “where they were unceremoniously stranded.”
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About a month later, the sheriff certified that the migrants taken to the Vineyard are legally victims of a crime and that they are assisting a law enforcement investigation.
The U visas are “set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity,” according to Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The U visa process creates a path for the migrants to obtain work authorization and, eventually, green cards.
Because Congress only allows the federal government to issue 10,000 such visas each year, there are thousands of applicants on a waiting list. The “bona fide determination” gives the migrants targeted by the state of Florida protections while they wait to receive the visa itself.
It can take someone as long as a decade to obtain a U visa once on the waiting list, immigration lawyers say.
“This is a harm reduction provision,” said Hemanth C. Gundavaram, cofounder and director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at Northeastern University School of Law. “If you didn’t have these protections, someone would have to stay here, worry about deportation, and not be able to make a living.”
Gundavaram pointed out that getting the determination is not easy, since victims have to have been subject to a specific crime and also be helpful to law enforcement. The point of the visa, Gundavram said, is an apology from the government for failing to keep a migrant safe upon entering the United States.
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“That’s a little bit of a failure of our systems,” he said.
Sarah Sherman-Stokes, associate director of the Immigrants’ Rights & Human Trafficking Clinic at Boston University School of Law, said the bona fide determinations are “really meaningful,” and can make tangible improvements to people’s lives. Those awarded to the Martha’s Vineyard migrants, she said, also include a powerful message to politicians.
“There will be consequences to your actions and in this case, by doing what they did . . . they gave them a pathway to lawful status,” she said. “It’s an unexpected twist. But you should not have to be exploited or taken advantage of by a Republican governor in order to have lawful status in the country.”
In addition to helping migrants navigate the immigration system, Boston’s Lawyers for Civil Rights has been pressing federal and state authorities to launch criminal and civil investigations into the scheme. They also filed a federal lawsuit against DeSantis and eight others, though a federal judge in Boston recently dismissed DeSantis and others in the case.
In July, the Cape and Islands district attorney joined California and Texas officials in asking the US attorney general to investigate the scheme. The Bexar County district attorney, however, has not taken action.
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“The Bexar County DA’s inaction in this matter is concerning and cannot be understated,” Self, the immigration attorney said. “Crickets from the DA’s office. Why?”
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.