500 signatures reached
To: Vertol Systems, Vertol Systems CEO James Montgomerie
Vertol Systems: STOP profiting off of deceived migrants and stop the inhumane flights NOW!
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Ron DeSantis used over $600,000 in taxpayer dollars to lure 50 Venezuelan asylum-seekers onto a flight to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The stories from the Venezuelan immigrants are both heartbreaking and enraging. When they arrived, many asked, “Where am I?” They were intentionally deceived and were put on a plane with nothing but a fake brochure that said they would be given benefits like eight months cash assistance, housing, food, clothing, expedited work papers, jobs, and assistance registering their children for school. But it was all a lie. It’s absolutely inhumane.
It turns out that the state of Florida paid Vertol Systems, a company known to back DeSantis allies, $1.5 MILLION in taxpayer dollars to carry out this flight and future flights.
We cannot allow these flights to continue and must come together to stop them. Will you sign the petition to demand that Vertol Systems STOP carrying out these flights NOW?
Why is this important?
Ron DeSantis, Florida Republicans, and Vertol Systems didn’t stop with the Martha’s Vineyard flight. In June, 36 Latin American migrants were deceived and promised work, housing, and food if they agreed to be flown to California on a chartered flight organized by Vertol Systems. And just last month, DeSantis floated the idea of flying Haitian migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. Enough is enough! We have to stop these flights before it’s too late.
The migrants who were trafficked to Martha’s Vineyard have since sued Vertol Systems, and a federal judge has allowed the lawsuit to proceed and said that there was evidence to support that the migrants were targeted because they were Latinx.
The federal judge recognized these sham flights as a political stunt asserting that DeSantis was exploiting migrants "in a scheme to boost the national profile of Defendant DeSantis and manipulate them for political ends,” and ruled that the treatment of these migrants was "extreme, outrageous, uncivilized, intolerable, and stunning.” It’s shameful that instead of treating asylum-seekers with the due process, dignity and care they deserve, Vertol Systems and Republican governors like Ron DeSantis are exploiting them and using them as political pawns.
These are not isolated incidents. They are deliberate actions relentlessly carried out by anti-immigrant Republicans. It’s completely unacceptable, and there is no excuse for Vertol Systems to continue profiting off of deceived migrants. They must stop organizing the flights NOW.
Will you take action and sign the petition?