Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard are closer to obtaining victim visas

Many of the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 have cleared a major hurdle in their efforts to obtain visas for people considered crime victims.

This is evident from a document shared with GBH News and two lawyers representing some of the 49 migrants. The migrants did not know they were part of a political ruse and that they were going from Texas to Massachusetts.

Boston-based attorney Rachel Self told GBH News on Monday that they have begun receiving federal documents called “bona fide provisions” intended for immigrants to obtain so-called U visas from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The documents will allow migrants to apply for a work permit and protect them from deportation during the processing of their application – because they are victims of a possible crime.

“It’s what we’ve known from day one,” said Self, who represents some immigrants. “Anyone who has looked at what happened to these individuals, anyone who has seen the evidence in this case, cannot ignore the criminality of the actors.”

Adriana Lafaille, chief counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said some of the nine migrants the ACLU of Massachusetts represents also received similar documents.

“It is very important that these U visa certificates have been issued because they send the message that no one has the freedom to victimize people just because they are the most vulnerable,” Lafaille said. “Newly arrived immigrants enjoy the protection of the law.”

The documents are an important step forward for the migrants, some of whom still live and work in Massachusetts and even Martha’s Vineyard.

As part of the ruse, DeSantis, a Republican, sent staff to San Antonio, Texas, to try to determine who might be going to Florida, according to court documents and previous interviews. Several migrants were approached, offered McDonald’s gift cards and a hotel room to sleep in. They were promised that they would be flown to New York, Washington, D.C., and other locations, and were assured that they would be provided with housing and jobs.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar in Texas and his office investigated the situation in his jurisdiction and interviewed migrants. Based on that investigation, he declared that the migrants had been victims of qualifying criminal activity, a required and important step in the process.

The visa provisions come weeks after a federal judge in Boston sentenced some migrants can proceed with their lawsuit against Florida-based Vertol Systems Co., the company that agreed to fly them for more than $600,000. The judge dismissed the claims against DeSantis and other officials named in the lawsuit due to jurisdictional considerations.

In the complaint, lawyers described that one migrant felt cheated. “Upon arriving in Martha’s Vineyard, plaintiff Yanet Doe felt helpless, deceived, and desperate. She started to cry. She felt anxious and confused.”

But the process towards stability for the migrants is far from complete. It can take more than ten years to obtain a U visa, which is a path to permanent residency. The federal government applies a maximum of 10,000 applications per year, with a backlog of 210,000 outstanding applications.

Many of the migrants have also applied for asylum and temporary protected status, a program that allows migrants from certain countries with unsafe conditions to live and work in the United States for a limited time.

A spokesperson for the US Citizenship and Immigrations Services told GBH News that the federal agency “is committed to reviewing petitions in a timely and efficient manner.” The agency does not comment on specific cases.