Fourteen newly minted United States citizens were sworn in at the Edgartown Courthouse on Friday, in the first group citizen naturalization ceremony in the building’s 150-year history.
Premiering at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center on Sept. 16, Martha’s Vineyard vs. DeSantis covers the two migrant flights that arrived on the Island last September and the ensuing legal battles against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration’s migrant relocation program.
A Brazilian native who arrived on Martha’s Vineyard in 2000 on a tourist visa but never left is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case that will clarify a clause in the federal immigration law concerning deportation.
The event was co-sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Social Justice Leadership Foundation and the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center social action committee.
Voters in all six Island towns this year will decide whether to join a growing list of cities and towns across the country that have pledged support for their immigrant communities and existing law enforcement procedures.
Arrests last week of two people by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were isolated events, officials say, but they triggered rumors and fear around the Island.