Organization Suing DeSantis Over Flights to Martha’s Vineyard Received Over $1 Million From George Soros

Hungarian-born investor and left-wing financier George Soros looks on after having delivered a speech on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2020. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

The nonprofit organization that filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sept. 20 on behalf of illegal immigrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard on his orders has received nearly $1.4 million from left-wing billionaire George Soros’s Open Society network in the past.

The organization Lawyers for Civil Rights filed the suit in the District of Massachusetts on behalf of the illegal immigrants and Alianza Americas.

The lawsuit accuses DeSantis and other state officials of targeting the illegal aliens and inducing them to board airplanes and cross state lines under “false pretenses.”

In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Lawyers for Civil Rights described Alianza Americas as “a network of migrant-led organizations supporting immigrants across the United States.”

According to official information posted on the Open Society Foundations website, Open Society awarded nearly $1.4 million to Alianza Americas between 2016 and 2020.

The grants, which were first reported by Fox News, came from three of Soros’s nonprofits, Open Society Institute, Open Society Policy Center, and Foundation to Promote Open Society, according to the publication.

The first grant awarded in 2016 amounted to $200,000 to “support a transition phase of the Global Coalition on Migration, of which the Grantee is a member,” according to official data.

Another larger grant of $240,000 was awarded in 2018 to “sustain and strengthen the institutional development and effectiveness of the Global Coalition on Migration.”

Grants to ‘Combat Voter Suppression’

The latest grant of $100,000 was awarded in 2020 to “monitor the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration and related mechanisms.”

In total, eight grants were awarded to Alianza Americas over a four-year period.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has also awarded a string of grants to Alianza Americas between 2008 and 2020 amounting to $1.26 million. According to its website, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.”

The MacArthur Foundation in September 2020 awarded $25 million in grants to address “anti-Black racism, support Native Americans impacted by COVID-19, strengthen voter education and mobilization, and combat voter suppression.”

Fox News, citing tax forms, reported that Lawyers for Civil Rights, the law firm that filed the suit against Florida officials, also received $50,000 from the Borealis Philanthropy in 2019.

Borealis was founded in 2015 and describes itself as a “social justice philanthropic intermediary working to resource grassroots movements for transformative change.”

Fox News reported that Borealis is “a left-wing donor-advised fund that acts as an intermediary steering Democratic money to organizations.”

‘Blood Is on His Hands’

In an August Twitter post, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani took aim at Soros over an opinion piece Soros wrote for The Wall Street Journal on July 31 in which he stated that he would continue to back progressive district attorneys despite the city battling with a drastic spike in crime.

“If there is one single person responsible for the record increases in murder and violence in America’s cities it’s George Soros,” Giuliani wrote, adding that Soros is a major contributor to Black Lives Matter, Antifa, the Democrat Party, and dozens of progressive district attorneys.

“The blood is on his hands,” Giuliani said.

The 35-page lawsuit filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights on Sept. 20 states that in order to “gain the Plaintiffs’ trust, and to induce unwitting cooperation with Defendants’ scheme, the Doe Defendants provided items such as $10 McDonald’s gift certificates to class members suffering from chronic food insecurity.”

“After luring Plaintiffs by exploiting their most basic needs, the Doe Defendants then made false promises and false representations that if Plaintiffs and class members were willing to board airplanes to other states, they would receive employment, housing, educational opportunities, and other like assistance upon their arrival.”

The illegal immigrants, who aren’t identified by name, state that they were told they would be flown to Boston or Washington but were instead transported to Martha’s Vineyard, according to the suit.

DeSantis has said the flights were voluntary and that immigrants signed consent forms before being flown to Martha’s Vineyard. His office accused activists who filed the lawsuit of taking advantage of illegal immigrants.