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Legal Experts: DeSantis ‘Reckless Decision’ May Have Violated Federal Law – Immigrants Are ‘Victims of Kidnapping’

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Legal and immigration experts are responding to Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis‘ decision to send two private planes filled with undocumented immigrants to the tiny island of Martha’s Vineyard (pop.17,000), in what some are calling an inhumane political stunt, as well as a possibly illegal act, including “kidnapping.” One attorney says that would make them not only victims of a crime, but eligible for U.S. government issued visas.

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom Thursday afternoon sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Dept. of Justice to investigate what he said may be “criminal” acts including “kidnapping” and violations of “RICO” statutes.

Jules Bernstein, founder of Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, and a longtime attorney who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, says DeSantis’ actions may “have constituted a federal crime.”

READ MORE: ‘I’d Burn the Building’: In Abortion Debate Lawmaker Says He’d Let All Children Burn to Death if He Could Only ‘Save’ Some

“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s reckless decision to deceive 50 poor and homeless migrants from Latin America into traveling, at Florida’s citizen’s expense, to Martha’s Vineyard, by misleading them into thinking that jobs and housing awaited them, was not merely an outrageous and villainous deed. It may also have constituted a federal crime,” Bernstein writes in a letter published by The Martha’s Vineyard Times.

Civil Rights Attorney Andrew C Laufer on social media says it “could be kidnapping.”

“They usually have immigrants sign consent/waivers when they transport them.Don’t believe they’re enforceable.If they Feds get involved, since they crossed state borders, could be kidnapping. It’s not human trafficking bc DeSantis, et al didn’t exploit them for labor or sex act.”

Elizabeth de la Vega, a former federal prosecutor of organized crime case and served as Chief of the San Jose Branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California says, “I hope DOJ will act asap against DeSantis & this crime, which is kidnapping in violation of 18 USC § 1201. The law doesn’t require forcible taking; it applies to ‘inveigling.’ It also forbids doing so for ransom, reward or ‘otherwise,’ a term that’s interpreted broadly.”

READ MORE: J6 Committee Posts Oath Keepers’ Walkie-Talkie Audio From Insurrection – ‘No Safe Place for Any of These MFers’

Immigration attorney Rachel Self, of Martha’s Vineyard, agrees the immigrants were “kidnapped.”

“The response to this crisis among the legal and humanitarian communities, and the Martha’s Vineyard community at large, has been nothing short of incredible,” Self wrote, according to The Times. “The people who arrived last night are not alone, and we will make sure they know it – this is what our community is all about. We welcome them, and we are deeply grateful for the opportunity to help them in any way we can.”

Self is preparing to take legal action.

“We believe they are victims of kidnapping, and the perpetrators of this breathtakingly cruel political stunt should know that it may well result in every individual who was induced onto those planes by fraud becoming eligible for a U visa,” she writes.

“A U visa is a nonimmigrant visa granted to victims who cooperate with law enforcement, prosecutors, or other authorities in the investigation of a crime, and in the First Circuit (the Federal jurisdiction which includes Massachusetts), people with pending U visas are protected from deportation,” Self adds.

“We call on federal, state, and local authorities to collect and preserve evidence, beginning with the tail numbers of the aircraft used in the commission of this offense. Using human beings – families and children – as political pawns says far more about Governor DeSantis’s callousness and disregard for human life than it does about the people of Martha’s Vineyard.”

She continued to blast the Florida governor who is facing a tough re-election battle against Democrat Charlie Crist.

DeSantis, she adds, “sent those planes here hoping to expose hypocrisy; he does not believe anyone when they say they care about people like migrants fleeing an oppressive socialist regime in Venezuela, because he himself cannot conceive of caring about them. He’s made it perfectly clear he views them as subhuman. He has revealed nothing but his own heartlessness – and the truth that the people of Martha’s Vineyard are as good as it gets and better embody the moral values he purports to have.”

 

 

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CRIME

Seattle Police Didn’t Provide Access to Lawyers 96% of the Time: Report

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4 months ago

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December 26, 2023

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The Seattle Police Department violated the law and didn’t give people under 18 access to a lawyer when it was supposed to 96% of the time, according to a new report released Friday by the city’s Office of the Inspector General.

The OIG audited the Seattle Police Department on its compliance with two laws, a city-level law called the MiChance Dunlap-Gittens Ordinance and a similar state law, RCW 13.40.740. The laws require police give those under 18 years old access to a public defender before the youth waives their right to remain silent. Police also must provide attorney access when requesting consent for a search, according to the OIG.

The OIG examined 89 arrests and found 50 cases where the laws applied. In those cases, access to an attorney was only provided twice. The OIG broke the interactions into four categories: Custodial Interrogation, which made up half of the cases; Consent to Search, 3 cases; Detained and Questioned, 7 cases; and Arrested, No Evidence of Questioning, 15 cases. Both of the instances where attorney access was provided were in this last category.

READ MORE: DOJ Report Says Louisville Police Needlessly Use Tasers & Dogs on Civilians

In an appendix, the OIG laid out eight recommendations, including updating the Seattle Police Department’s policy manual, requiring officers to “make a good faith effort” to check the age of the person detained, and to perform regular internal audits on whether or not the law is being followed by officers.

SPD’s chief operating officer, Brian Maxey, said it was sometimes difficult to determine if someone is legally a minor, according to the Times, but admitted that “in some instances there are clear gaps in officers’ understanding of the laws and inconsistencies in practice.”

The law is named for MiChance Dunlap-Gittens, a high school senior shot in 2017 following a botched sting operation. King County sheriff’s detectives investigating a homicide attempted to create a sting to catch a suspect. Dunlap-Gitten was killed when he attempted to flee. The suspect the detectives were after also fled, but was caught by a SWAT team that night, according to the Seattle Times. However, neither teenager was involved at all in the homicide under investigation.

Dunlap-Gittens’ death led to a $2.5 million ruling against King County in 2020. In addition to the victim’s family receiving the money, the sheriff at the time apologized and promised to make her officers wear body cameras and use dash cameras, according to the Times. Shortly following the settlement, the Seattle City Council passed the ordinance. A similar ordinance also went before the King County Council. A year later, RCW 13.40.740 passed the State Legislature.

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CRIME

Giuliani Booking Photo Released

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8 months ago

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August 23, 2023

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Former Trump attorney and former Republican Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani was booked in Fulton County, Georgia Wednesday afternoon on racketeering charges and charges related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

He was released on a $150,000 bond after being arraigned on 13 charges.

“Conditions include prohibitions against intimidating co-defendants or witnesses, and against communicating with co-defendants other than through their lawyers. Giuliani must check in with pretrial services every 30 days,” USA Today reports.

READ MORE: ‘Wrong on the Law, Wrong on the Facts’: Fani Willis Smacks Down Jeff Clark’s Legal Move in Scathing Response

Former Trump attorneys Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell were also booked and their photos have been made public as well.

See all three mug shots below or at this link.

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CRIME

‘Moral Turpitude’: Bill Barr Hammers Donald Trump

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8 months ago

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August 17, 2023

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Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr delivered one of his harshest criticisms to date of his former boss on Thursday, accusing Donald Trump of “moral turpitude.”

“You know, you don’t get immunity for two years in the run-up to an election just by saying, ‘Hey, I’m a candidate,'” Barr told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto.

“These investigations have been going on for a while, everyone knew about them even before he announced his candidacy,” Barr continued. “So if there’s a chance to get it resolved before the election, it should be because the American people should know these are crimes involved – or potential crimes – involving moral turpitude.”

Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute says moral turpitude is “wicked, deviant behavior constituting an immoral, unethical, or unjust departure from ordinary social standards such that it would shock a community.”

READ MORE: ‘Truly Scandalous: Jim Jordan Slammed by Former Top DOJ Official

Barr also talked about the two federal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, one for Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, and one for his refusal to return classified and other documents.

“I think the federal cases are legitimate,” Barr said. “At the end of the day, at the core of this thing he engaged in – in the case of the documents – in outrageous behavior where anyone would be prosecuted. I don’t know of any attorney general who could walk away from it.”

“He’s not being prosecuted for having the documents, he’s being prosecuted for obstruction, two egregious instances are alleged so I think that’s a very simple case.”

Barr also said for him, Trump “crossed the line” when “he used this device of impaneling imposter electors, swearing that they were the electors, but the key point there was, they were in tandem with a plan whereby the vice president would use that as a pretext for nullifying the legal and certified votes. So it was a calculated and deceitful plan to remain in office by nullifying and negating certified legal votes.”

Watch the videos below or at this link:

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