Washington, DC – The following is a statement from David Leopold, Legal Advisor to America’s Voice, past president, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and Immigration Group Leader, Ulmer & Berne LLP, in response to the stunt from Ron DeSantis to fly migrants to Martha’s Vineyard:
“Forcible transfer of a civilian population is a crime against humanity. And human trafficking is a serious federal crime in the US. Both of these are hallmarks of an anti-democratic totalitarian leader.
A political stunt doesn’t mask what Ron DeSantis and his accomplices in the GOP are doing – transferring a population of immigrants to other parts of the country. It’s immoral, it’s un-American and it’s straight out of Putin’s authoritarian playbook.
Shipping vulnerable migrants, including children, across the U.S. is a calculated systematic attack on a targeted population – here immigrants of color, many of whom are lawfully in the U.S. as asylum applicants.
DeSantis may have had his cunning lawyers insulate him, but nothing can hide the fact that his despicable immigrant transfer scheme feels like it was concocted in the Kremlin.”
