Texas Woman Added in Lawsuit Against DeSantis for Flying Immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard

Illegal immigrants gather, after being flown in from Texas on a flight funded by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., on Sept. 15, 2022. Vineyard Gazette/Handout via Reuters

A Texas woman has been named in the class-action lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for her alleged role in transporting dozens of illegal immigrants from San Antonio to the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard.

Perla Huerta, 43, is accused of luring 49 plaintiffs onto private charter planes from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this year, according to the amended document (pdf). The original lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Massachusetts on Sept. 20.

The two planes of illegal immigrants were chartered by the Republican governor using funds from Florida’s $12 million state relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities.

“In Florida, we take what is happening at the southern border seriously. We are not a sanctuary state, and we will gladly facilitate the transport of the illegal immigrants to sanctuary jurisdictions,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter in September.

On Sept. 8, the Florida Department of Transportation paid $615,000 to Vertrol Systems Co, a Florida-based aviation company, the lawsuit alleges. It was described as payment for the “relocation program of unauthorized aliens.” Vertrol is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Huerta, a retired Army counterintelligence agent, who was reportedly working for Vertrol, is accused of helping the other defendants by serving as the “lead recruiter of immigrants.”

Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, the law firm that filed the pro bono lawsuit, alleges in the lawsuit that Huerta gained the Venezuelan immigrants’ trust by giving them “shoes, gift cards for food, and free lodging.”

The lawsuit alleges the immigrants believed they were headed to a large city in the northwest where jobs, housing, educational opportunities, and legal assistance would be waiting for them.

“Instead, Defendants left Class Plaintiffs stranded on an island with no means of leaving the island and no food or shelter,” lawyers wrote in the document.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has transported more than 13,000 illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities this year.

“Texas has also bused almost 8,400 migrants to our nation’s capital since April, over 3,800 migrants to New York City since August 5, and more than 1,200 migrants to Chicago since August 31,” according to a Nov. 18 press release.

An additional five buses of immigrants have been sent from Texas to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, over the past two weeks.

Abbott has defended the action as an effort to relieve overwhelmed border communities.

“Since April, Texas’ busing strategy has successfully provided much-needed relief to our border communities overwhelmed by the historic influx of migrants caused by President [Joe] Biden’s reckless open border policies,” Abbott said in a Nov. 15 statement on Twitter.

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona has also bused thousands of immigrants to other states.

Some Democrats have accused the governors of “trafficking” the immigrants for political gain.

“The fact that human beings are being trafficked for political benefits is abhorrent,” Massachusetts Democratic state Sen. Julian Cyr said the day after migrants arrived in Martha’s Vineyard, according to The Hill. “It also raises some real questions as to whether or not any laws have been broken.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are seeking compensation for damages in an amount to be determined at trial, as well as compensation for attorneys’ fees, costs, and other expenses.