Martha’s Vineyard Update

In September 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent a group of migrants by plane from his state to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. We covered the story multiple times on this blog. (See here, here, here, here, and here.)

I’ve used the Martha’s Vineyard story in different ways while teaching immigration-related courses. One way has been to show students the following twitter exchange and ask them to discuss the merits of U visas for the affected migrants.

More than a year-and-a-half later, there’s now official news on the subject: some of the migrants have been found eligible for U visas. Because of the backlog in U visa applications, they won’t get a visa in hand for some time. But they have been granted temporary work permits and protection from deportation.

-KitJ